Fonic Interruption
by Lazy to Write
Summary: What if Derris Kharlan drifted to somewhere near Auldrant by accident? What if Kratos decided to check out the new planet? Follow Kratos and see what changes he would make to the story we all know about, starting from 13 years before the game.
1. A Wandering Planet

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

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**Prologue: A Wandering Planet**

Alarms could be heard throughout the whole planet. People with wings could be seen pacing or flying around as if taking leisurely strolls and that no alarm was sounding. No emotions could be seen on any of the faces of the winged people, as if they're all automotive dolls set to move around. Amongst the lifeless beings, a blur of purple and red was making a beeline towards the center of the Holy City of Welgaia.

The blur started slowing down as it got closer and closer to its destination and it was revealed to be a man in his late twenties with wild red hair, wearing purple colored full body suit completed with shoulder capes and swallow tails hanging down them, he was also wearing matching gloves, belts and boots.

The man rushed past a set of double glass door of one of the buildings situated near the center of Welgaia and was greeted by two of the winged people.

"Lord Kratos." The angels chorused simultaneously and monotonously.

"What is the problem?" He asked the nearest angel.

"Derris Kharlan is being attracted by an unknown source and is accelerating towards said source." The angel stated calmly, as if it was nothing out of the normality.

Inhaling deeply, Kratos calmly, or as calm as he could manage in this situation, told the previously spoken angel to turn off the alarm and the other to follow him. He quickly got into the control room and started looking through the calculations on the computer. He didn't have to read much before understanding what was happening and started cursing his luck of encountering a potential black hole.

_That's it, after 4 years of drifting aimlessly, atoning for my sins, it's finally time for me to move on to another world. But i__s it really the right choice for me to leave Aselia in the first place?_

During the 4 years of living in Derris Kharlan, not only once did Kratos regret his decision to leave Aselia, to leave his son behind. _What will you say if you see me now, Lloyd?_

Turning away from the computer, he looked at the angel that has been standing behind him and suddenly felt very tired. _I may m__ore or less deserve the same fate as this planet, but what about the other angels on Derris Kharlan? Unlike me, they are victims of Mithos' plan. Even if they may never be able to regain their true self again, did they deserve to disappear with this planet and me?_

"Continue to monitor the calculations and alert me if and when any changes are made to it."

"Yes, Lord Kratos."

Feeling that there's nothing else he could do, Kratos left the control tower and walked along the streets of Welgaia, where more angels were just walking or flying around aimlessly. _What will you do in this situation, Lloyd? _

Kratos began walking towards his own room, knowing that there wasn't anything he could do except wait now that his fate and the fate of Derris Kharlan and all the people living in it was sealed. Once inside his own room, he took out a worn photo from a drawer of his desk and sat down on his bed. A look of peace settled on Kratos' face as he gazed at the photo. In the photo was a woman with long and straight brown hair holding a baby boy. Both were laughing happily.

_It's finally time for me to join you in death, Anna. But I doubt a sinful man like me will be able to go to the same place as you._

He started reflecting on his life. _Hmph, not much to reflect on, most of my life were doing inhumane things while working for Yggdrasil. It seems a man like me can't find peace even on the eve of his death._ Then he thought of his wife and focused on her smile in the photo. You_ really are an angel, Anna, to allow a man like me to find solace in you._

Time seems to have frozen when Kratos stared at the photo. _I wonder what Lloyd is doing now, is he still with Collete, are they married yet? Do they have any children? I knew the day I decided to leave with Derris Kharlan that I'll never get the chance to see, let alone hold, my son and the children he may or may not have yet. _A droplet of water hit the old photo._ However, I never imagined I will cry over this fact._

"..tos. Lord Kratos. Lord..." Releasing someone's outside the door, he looked at the time and realized he had simply been sitting there, doing nothing except staring at the photo for the past three hours.

He quickly schooled his features - sometimes he wondered why he's still doing that even though none of the angels will notice his dismay anyway - and opened the door. Looking at the emotionless expression of the angel he assigned to watch over and report should there be any changes in the calculations.

"What is the new result to the calculations?" He asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Derris Kharlan is decelerating and slowly changing it's direction of travel." Even before the angel had finished his report, Kratos had left the room and started tracing his step back to the control tower.

Another angel greeted him upon his entrance into the control tower, but Kratos ignored it and went straight into the control room. With suppressed hope, Kratos studied the calculations on the screen.

"Derris Kharlan is set to an orbiting path?" Confused, Kratos carefully checked the calculations again. But no matter how he looked at it, the results were still the same: Derris Kharlan was setting to an orbiting path around an unknown source, mostly likely the one that attracted it in the first place.

_If the calculations are correct, which I am sure, then the only question that remains is what or who has the power to change the c__ourse of a planet._

Looking over at an adjacent screen, Kratos started looking for the calculated profile of the nearest planet.

_Let's see... A Habitable planet with sufficient amount of water for life. Land that is easily large enough for the whole population of __non-human in Aselia. The atmosphere also comprises a healthy mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide and also some unknown but not poisonous particle._

He looked at the second column on the planet profile about the outer atmosphere of the planet.

_Those particles also seem to have been floating at the boundary of the outer atmosphere and will be quite close to Derris Kharlan once the new path of it is set. Hmm... Seems Derris Kharlan is docked to a very much populated planet. _

Then he noticed something not normal for a normal planet.

_Wait, this planet has two layers? The lower layer is full of miasma and is not fitted for living, and also has a liquefied mantle as its 'sea'. There also seems to be something holding up the outer layer... Does that mean there's someone powerful enough to provide the means to push the mantle up to a height where the miasma can't reach? Or is it that they have technology advanced enough to do something like that? Either way, I'm sure I can find the reason for Derris Kharlan's weird behavior on this planet. But first..._

Turning his attention to the angels behind him, he gave out his orders.

"Prepare the emergency warp and tell the other angels to prepare to defend Derris Kharlan, alert me if any outsiders are spotted on the planet, keep your distance and don't strike out without my permission." He told the angel on the left, who replied with a standard 'yes, Lord Kratos' and left.

He turned to the angel on the right. "Set the destination of the emergency warp to the coordinates of the nearest planet and continue to monitor the calculations, let me know at once if any changes are made to them."

"Yes, Lord Kratos." The angel said and took a sit in front of one of the computers and started typing.

Kratos left the control tower and asked the nearest angel to prepare a communication set that would allow him to communicate with the control room even over a very long distance. He then started towards his room, all the while thinking of possible ways to alter Derris Kharlan from its original course and the possibility and implication of having to face someone with that power.

Upon entering his room, he carefully pocketed the photo of Anna and Lloyd that he left on his bed when he went to the control tower. Opening another drawer, he took out several wing packs. _Time to do some packing._

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**Author's Note:**

I loved reading the fanfics in this site, and has recently opened an account (not really recently... but I only started to actively used it recently) and wanted to try out my writing skills. I like Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss very much since I first played them and has decided to write a fanfic about my favourite character: Kratos. This is my first time writing a fanfic, please be easy on me.

_Uploaded on 17 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._**  
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	2. Cutting Ties

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 1: Cutting Ties**

A young man with pale lavender hair that came to his neck and wore a red shirt with yellow tie, black pants and a long white coat ran across the forest near Keterburg. His right hand was limping at his side and a wound was bleeding heavily on his right shoulder. Despite covering the wound with his left hand, blood was flowing continuously out of the wound and onto the ground, leaving a red trail that contrasted sharply against snow white ground.

He didn't know which direction he was heading and had no idea where he was going. He couldn't even see with so much tears in his eyes, blurring everything he tried to look at, nor did he have the time to stop and get a bearing. It was a miracle for him not to trip over or bumped into anything in the last ten minutes that he's been running.

_It's alright, I don't really care where or what I'm going to end up in. For all I know, I may have been running towards a cliff. But even if I am to jump off a cliff, it's fine. I don't care if I'm going to get hurt any further or maybe even die. No one cares anyway, after all, who cares about a crazy scientists... not even him, who I once thought of as my only true friend... Jade..._

**** Approximately 30 minutes ago ****

"I know I will find you here, wailing in front of her grave, you're are always so predictable." A voice came from the forest and seconds later, a young man with chestnut brown hair, wearing a blue soldier uniform, stepped out of the forest and into the clearing.

"Was the announcement you made true? Did you really mean it when you said that Fomicry is to be banned? " Asked the young man that had been standing in front of the grave for quite a while.

"Out of all the people, I think you should know the best I never said things that I don't mean." The man said lightly, answering and at the same time dismissing the question thrown at him. "How long have you been here anyway? I can practically feel your body shaking and hear your teeth clattering from the cold."

"No!" The lavender haired young man turned around, the glasses that he wore reflecting the light, making it impossible to tell what he's thinking.

"I'm not shaking and nor are my teeth clattering from the cold!" He shouted, denying that he was cold even though his was freezing and that he was sure if he didn't start moving any time soon his limbs would start going numb.

"Then what? Did you do something naughty again and is scared of me finding out." The taller man replied with an amused smile.

"No, it is not me but you that had done something unforgivable. And I'm not scared." ...y_es, I'm scared as hell but there's no way I'm letting you know. Maybe normally I don't mind letting you know that I'm scared, but not this time. _

"I'm angry! How could you do something like that! Didn't you realize that what you said shattered our dream? We promised each other to revive her together!" He knew that shouting wasn't a good thing to do in this situation, but he hoped that the shouting could cover up the fact of how scared he was at the moment.

"Now, now, there's no need to get agitated. Let me point out where you go wrong. First, I don't see how banning an inhumane experiment that only mad scientist perform is unforgivable. Second, we were young and naive when we made that promise, surely you should know not to dwell on something like that. Everyone needs to grow up, now stop being such a crybaby." The man said.

Although his tone remained light and he had something like a poker face on, the look in his eyes was another story. It was a look that echoed the words 'you disappoint me_'_.

"Right." He's no longer shouting and is trying his best to steel the shaking in his voice. _"_I followed your every whims, help you perform those inhumane experiments, sometimes even let you use me as your lab rat, and after all that, I'm the one that needs to grow up, I'm the mad scientist." He said with an icy edge to his voice.

_Good, I can now control my voice, I don't want to let him know how shaken up I really am... He will only tease and corner me to the point of breaking if I show him any weakness now... _

The look on the soldier's face suddenly became a frown. "I'm disappointed in you, Saphir, can't you see how wrong those experiments are? Can't you see how wrong your accusation of me shattering your foolish dream is? If I didn't do that, you will still be happily doing Fomicry related experiments without a care of the world."

_Yes, that's what the Jade I know will say in such situations, always twisting the words so the one at fault is never him... I sort of liked this personality back then, even when it's directed at me. But now..._ "You're right, I should be grateful to you."

"Good. I'm glad we could come to an understanding. Now let's go back to Malkuth before you are frozen to death." Jade turned away from Saphir and walked towards the direction of the forest, relieved that he didn't have to do any more persuasion as he's never a person of words.

"No." That single word made Jade froze his step, he turned his head slightly to glance back at Saphir, but the other man had turned around, facing the grave again. "No? What do you meant by that."

"I'm grateful at how you always need me to assist you in various tasks, no matter how those tasks hurt me. I never really care much about physical pains anyway, so it doesn't matter." ..._ and I'm really happy for the fact that someone actually needs me, even if you may have been thinking of me as just a convenient tool... _

"You're right, everyone needs to grow up, including me"_ ... and you... _"But you're also correct that I'm a naive crybaby that doesn't know when and how to grow up."

_... How long has it been? Fifteen years? It's been too long since I started following him, I guess I simply lost the ability to grow up and lost the strength to take matters into my hand... But if you don't need me anymore... If to you, growing up means that I am no longer of use to you... Then... _

"I guess it's time to say goodbye then, after all, I'm just a brat that only knows how to desperately cling onto a fleeting dream." ... _and one that only knows how to live in the past._

The moment the word goodbye left Saphir's mouth, Jade resigned to the fact that there's nothing else he can do to persuade the stubborn scientist. He brought out his spear, with the intention of doing anything and everything within his power to prevent Saphir from leaving, even if it meant to injure him to the point of incapacitating him.

The moment Saphir finished his speech, he dived into the nearest bush and just in time dodged Jade's spear that was now sticking out from the ground that he was just standing on.

And thus began the wild chase of cat and mouse.

**** End Flashback ****

Saphir's escape was brought to an abrupt stop as he finally tripped over a branch with a surprised yelp. He tried standing up but couldn't as his body was too weak due to blood loss from his shoulder wound and other countless wounds covering his whole body, either from narrowly missing Jade's spear as it sailed through the air or from forcing his way among branches and getting scratched in the process.

He resisted groaning out loud as he felt aches all over his body as he rolled over so he was facing the ground anymore. He lied on his back staring up at the forest that he always played in when he was a child, with other children, with Jade... _For the sake of __Lorelei__, is there anything that can make me NOT think of him?_

He suddenly heard noises from the bushes to his right and closed his eyes tiredly. _So Jade catches up with me already? I guess it's doesn't matter, I don't want to move anymore, may as well let him deal the final blow. Or maybe he'll be his typical self and say something about not wanting to dirty his hands and watch me bleed to death._

However, his thought about his 'ways of death' was put to a stop when he heard the distinctive cry of something that was obviously not human. _So that's how I'm going to meet my end, the crazy scientist Saphir Wyon Neis, after miraculously escaping from the clutches of Jade Curtiss the Necromancer, ends up being the meal of some random monsters. What a glorious end._

He felt the monster coming closer and could smell the bad smell that came from its mouth and furrowed his brows._ So I have to endure such foul smell even on the eve of my death?_ He let out a shaky sigh._ I suppose beggar can't be chooser._

Then he heard a loud clapping sound and the monster suddenly cried out and Saphir felt it dropping onto the ground. Not sure what happened, he slowly opened his eyes and saw smoke rising from the back of the dead creature as if burnt by fire.

"Are you alright?" Saphir turned to the direction the voice seems to come from and saw a blur of purple coming his way. He couldn't see clearly due to the mist on his glasses and the tears that were still in his eyes.

He used his left hand to wipe away the tears and tried to sit up to get a better view. But pain exploded in his heads the moment he tried to sit up and after that, all he saw is darkness.

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_Uploaded on 17 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	3. The Work of Mercenary

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Work of Mercenary**

Looking at the young man who had just lost his consciousness from the simple motion of sitting up, Kratos sighed for the umpteenth time since coming to this planet, and this was only the seventh hour since he left Derris Kharlan.

_Probably due to the blood loss from the wound on his right shoulders._ He mused as he walked over to the unconscious body.

**** Flashback ****

After packing up the many things that he usually won't use unless during emergencies, he decided to take the time to memorize the crude map of this world from Derris Kharlan's main computer.

He stepped onto the emergency warp, only to find that the destination of the warp had been set to the middle of a vast ocean. If not for his wings and the rheaird that he packed in one of the wing packs, it would have taken him days just to get to the land.

But then Kratos found out the hard way that since this world was neither Derris Kharlan nor Aselia, there was a distinct lack of mana that normally allowed him to fly and use magic with ease.

Not to mention that the rheaird became useless after five hours of flying, the mana in its storage being fully depleted, and he had no choice but to continue the rest of the journey with his wings. So, in just the first few hours of flying on the seemingly endless ocean, all the while looking for any signs of land, Kratos had already used quite an amount of recovery items to recover his mana.

The only fortunate thing he could think of thus far was that he didn't have to eat to replenish his strength. But the journey was still quite draining.

Kratos also realized, after two hours of flying on the water, that not only was the map provided by Derris Kharlan's main computer crude, but also inaccurate. He guessed that was due to the unknown particles that seemed to float around the whole planet interfering with the detectors on Derris Kharlan.

He should have given more thought on the fact that this world uses a different energy system that would likely hinder him in many different ways when packing.

_Must be because of all the adrenaline rush after learning that Derris Kharlan is not going to be engulfed by some black hole or to crash into another planet or star. But really, I shouldn't rush things... Not when I've got 4000 years of traveling experience. Seems I've gotten rusty with the dull life on Derris Kharlan._

He was desperately hoping that he had packed more than one rehaird when he finally spotted a snowy mountain in the distance and picked up his pace so he could put away his mana wings as soon as possible to preserve mana.

** End Flashback **

Strolling over to the unconscious man, Kratos started checking him to see if there's any other wounds that may quicken his death at the rate he's bleeding.

_Judging from his wounds, he's running away from someone who is after his life. _Kratos thought as he inspected his wounds.

The shoulder wound was obviously not caused by any of the local monsters, but something with a sharp edge. _Not a sword wound judging from the size and shape, maybe a spear?_

There were also the other shallow wounds that suggested narrowly dodged hit and running at a fast speed and not caring being scratched and slashed at by the tree branches.

"First Aid." After making sure that the shoulder wound had stopped bleeding and his other cuts were not likely to bleed him to death, he carefully lifted the man up from the ground.

He looked at the trail of blood that he assumed was left by this young man and this further proved his theory of someone after his life as the monster was on the opposite side of the red trail.

Seeing that the sun was starting to set, Kratos decided to look for a place safe from monsters during the night. He didn't really have to as he didn't need to sleep so he can stand guard the whole night, but he didn't think it a good idea to let the unconscious man spend the night in the cold forest. There's also the possibility that his pursuer was nearby.

_A cave would be the best_.

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Upon finding a cave and making sure that it's empty, he laid the man down on the far end of the cave, away from the entrance and the cold and went to dressing his wounds.

He can see the man was suffering from the cold and quickly made a fire with a small Fireball and some firewood he picked up along the way. The clattering of teeth stopped, but he's still shaking from the cold.

_It's at time like this that I'm grateful to the fact that I can't feel the cold._

Now don't get Kratos wrong, he liked being able to feel the temperature. It's been too long since he had last felt the sensations called hot, warm and cold that he's no longer sure what it _felt_ like. He just vaguely remembered that he once enjoyed the cool summer breeze when standing on beaches, had fun during snowball fights and feeling the cold when hit by a snowball, and...

A groan cut off Kratos' thought. The man slowly pried open his eyes. His eyes losing focus for a moment before gathering himself, a confused look settled upon his feature as he glanced around his surroundings.

Finally, his gaze settled on Kratos. As if trying to remember what happened, the man opened and closed his mouth a few times, not sure what to say.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Kratos decided to help out the confused man by starting the conversation. _The loneliness on Derris Kharlan must have caught up on me if I'm willing to start a conversation with a stranger._

"I remember visiting Professor Nebilim's grave near the forest and then..." He trailed off, suddenly on the verge of tears. "You saved me from the monster. Thank you." The man said while trying very hard to contain his tears, but failing. He then turned away from Kratos.

_Not a question, but a sentence stating the fact. __Judging from his tone, something devastating must have happened to him. H_e's doing quite well considering his current condition and mental state. 

Neither spoke after that. After a while, Saphir slowly sat up from the ground, wincing slightly due to a splitting headache. He looked at his wounds and asked, "You are a Seventh Fonist?"

"... Why do you ask?" Kratos had no idea what a Seventh Fonist is, so he decided to fish for some information first by throwing back the question at the man.

"The wound. Even if the wound stopped bleeding after you bandaged it, the cloth would still be soaked with blood. But as it is, there isn't much blood on it. And some of my other wounds are already starting to heal. Only a Seventh Fonist would have the power to do that."

_So a Seventh Fonist is someone with the power to heal._ "Yes."

Nodding at Kratos' reply, the man looked pleased that he guessed correct. "By the way, my name is Saphir Wyon Neis."

"Kratos Aurion."

"So Kratos, why were you in the forest? Normally no one goes to this part of the forest, not that I'm complaining since you saved me." Saphir asked curiously, wanting to know more about his mysterious savior.

"I'm a traveling mercenary, I recently ran out of money and decided to do some monster hunting and take their hides to sell." Kratos replied.

It was one of the standard reply Kratos gave to people. Although he didn't start of as a mercenary and in most case it was just a cover, he had so many practices with it that it became second nature for him to come up with answers like that.

Though the funny thing was that he believed that this time it would be more than a cover. He needed a way to earn money as he doubted the currency used in this planet was the same as the ones he had in Derris Kharlan.

Saphir looked confused upon hearing Kratos' answer."Is this your first time to Keterburg?" He asked.

"Yes. Is there something about the monsters here that I should be aware of?" _So this place is called Keterburg._

"Not only are the hides of the monsters over this side of the forest tough, they also emit a bad smell. Even if you bring some to the merchants, they won't buy it as the cost required to make it presentable are too high." Saphir explained.

"What would you suggest then?"

Saphir blinked at the question and thought about the monsters in this area, wanting to help out the man that saved him. "I think the monster hide that fetches the best selling price in this area is the hide of the bear that appears in the forest between Keterburg and Mount Roneal."

"You seem quite knowledgeable on monsters." Kratos commented.

Saphir grinned sheepishly at that. "I grew up in Keterburg, I sometimes go monster hunting with my... with someone I know, but my knowledge of monsters only extends to those in this area."

Choosing to ignore the slight pause in Saphir explanation, he decided to change the topic. "Do you need me to escort you back to Keterburg tomorrow?" He said and shifted his gaze back to the fire.

"I'm not going to Keterburg, but I think I could use your service." Saphir replied after thinking for a while.

"Where are you going to then?"

"Daath."

Kratos weighed his options: he could sell the monster's hide as per his original plan to acquire some money to buy a map of this world, or he could escort Saphir to this Daath and earn the money as the escorting fee. It is clear which was the better choice.

"Fine. We'll leave tomorrow morning then." If he escorted Saphir, he could learn more about this world along the way and what kind of mercenaries turned down a job offer when they're in need of money?

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_Uploaded on 18 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	4. Start of a New Journey

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 3: Start of a New Journey**

_So this is Daath, Headquaters of the Order of Lorelei, an Order that is similar to the Church of Martel in Aselia. _Kratos thought as the city of Daath came into view.

During the trip to Daath, Kratos had learned as much as he could about Auldrant from Saphir, which wasn't much, considering how short the trip from Keterburg to Daath was.

_It's probably a good thing that he likes talking and is a scientist that can tell me more about this world than most. But sometimes he just talks too much._ Kratos mused as he and Saphir crossed the bridge to Daath.

Throughout Saphir's speeches, Kratos never heard him talking about his past. Which he thought was quite weird for someone that liked to rant. _Must be due to whatever tragedy he faced before we met. At least this way I don't have to hear about his personal life. _

Though he did found a very interesting and strange fact that the most common language used in this planet was similar to something Kratos learned a long time ago, and had made a mental note to find out more about that later.

He had first thought to pose as a mercenary with little to no prior education in literature, how glad he was when he found he could somehow make out the language used here - it's still difficult seeing as the similarities was only about fifty percent and the counterpart of this language was an extinct one in Aselia even four thousand years ago and Kratos only knew the basics, but he could still make do.

He had posed as many different types of person throughout his long life and knew that posing as someone who was ignorant was the most difficult among all. Though he would really be a person without prior education if he didn't have a good memory and find the slight connection between the languages, it was still hard to hide his other skills.

There were just so many ways for him to show the wrong stuff to the wrong person and being asked the inevitable question of how he knew that and it was always very hard, if not impossible, to find the perfect cover story for that slight mistake.

"Where in Daath are you going?" Kratos asked as they reached Daath.

"I'm going to the church." Nodding at Saphir's reply, Kratos asked if he required his service till he reached the church.

Saphir looked at the busy streets of Daath. "I guess I'll be fine on my own now that my wounds are mostly healed, well, except for the shoulder wound, but at least I can move my arm now." He paused and turned to Kratos. "What will you do next?"

"I will go to the taverns here to look for another job."

"So I guess this is where we part ways then." Saphir said as he fished out his purse and payed Kratos the fee for escorting him to Daath.

After pocketing his payment, Kratos nodded at Saphir and walked towards a different direction.

"Thanks again for everything." Saphir called out before he lost sight of Kratos in the crowd of people.

* * *

Contrary to what he told Saphir, Kratos decided to first find a local library to learn more about this world.

Upon reaching the library, Kratos went to the section that contained the atlas of this world. He tried his best to memorize all the details on the world map and moved onto look at the other basic profile of this world and found to his amazement that one year in this planet had nearly eight hundred days, which was more than two years in Aselia.

He had known that time would be calculated differently when he read the profile of this planet and noted the difference in length in the orbiting path of Auldrant around its sun - here Kratos noted another interesting thing that although he was in a different part in the universe, they still called the center star of this stellar system the sun - and the orbiting path of Aselia around its sun.

Although Auldrant was farther away from the sun than Aselia was from its own sun, they had similar weathers and Kratos guessed that it was because the sun of this system gave out more energy and thus Auldrant wasn't much colder than Aselia.

He was also grateful that since the size of the planets were more of less the same, they had more or less the same system to count time and had a similar number of hours per day. They even had seven days a week. The only main differences were the number of days per month and the number of months per year.

So Kratos didn't have to do much to adapt to the difference in time here, though it didn't really matter that much considering he had been spending most of his life in Derris Kharlan, where time was meaningless anyway. And he was also glad that he was an ageless being otherwise it would be weird for him to age _twice _as fast as a normal person in this planet.

He spent some more time pondering the physical differences between the two planets and what he needed to do to adapt to the general lifestyle of this planet - he didn't know how long he had to spend here, so it's best for him to be prepared - before moving onto another section of the library about the energy this world consisted of.

_Interesting, the Aggregate Sentiences representing each type of Fonon has the same name as the Summon Spirits in Aselia. _Kratos thought as he read about the nature of Fonon from a very thick and old tome.

Kratos knew the reason he could still use magic was that he became an embodiment of mana and had his own reserve of mana once he equipped the Cruxis Crystal and became an angel. It also helped that he had been an angel for the past four thousand years. Otherwise he would exhaust all his mana from just casting a few spells.

Although the effects of his magic were greatly reduced due to the lack of mana in this world, he decided it was always a good thing to have magic if things got ugly. After reading the part about the Aggregate Sentiences and their corresponding nature, Kratos decided that if anyone asked, he would be someone that could use the Fonon of Earth, Wind, Fire, Light and Sound, which corresponds to the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Fonon.

He then proceeded to read about the basics about the Planetary Storm, the Fon Belt, the advancment of science and technology, also called Fontech, with the use of Fonons.

Once he thought he had enough information on Fonons for now, he decided to research on the Order of Lorelei.

_Who knows, maybe I can find out who is responsible for altering Derris Kharlan's course by looking at the secrets of Order of Lorelei._ Kratos mused as he recalled how many secrets the Church of Martel had back when Yggdrasil was still in power.

He skimmed through the information on the Fonic War, Yulia's prediction, which known as the Score, the founding and structure of the Order of Lorelei, and all other things about the Order of Lorelei that he thought was like a common sense in this world and would make him look like an idiot if he didn't know about.

_The records seem genuine, but I can't help but feel that there's something amiss. _Being one of the leaders of Cruxis and the one that managed the records of the fake background in both Sylvarant and Tehte'alla, it was only normal for Kratos to think that there's more to this Order than meet the eyes.

_It's also weird that there's no mention of the lower layer detected by Derris Kharlan's core system. I suppose this supports the idea that this Order of Lorelei has some secrets that are one cannot find in a normal library._ Kratos concluded after finished skimming through all the records he found regarding the Order of Lorelei.

Putting back the records, he decided it's time to call it a day when he saw that people were packing up and starting to leave the library._  
_

After leaving the library, he went to one of the local taverns that he learned of from the map of Daath, hoping to fish out information that wasn't in the books from the bartender and some drunken locals.

* * *

Early next morning, Kratos was seen in the library reading through book after book. This time he decided to read the books detailing the other two nations apart from Daath: the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear and the Malkuth Empire.

_It seems I will have do some traveling around to learn more about this world._ Kratos drawled as he closed the book titled 'Life in Kimlasca'_._

It wasn't that the books in this library contained little information on the two nations that made Kratos came to this conclusion. On the contrary, it was the fact that the information he gained from the books alone showed him how advanced the science and technology of both nations were that piqued his interest.

Having lived in the Aselia before the world was split in two, Kratos was always fascinated by how advanced magitechnology was. Too bad he was born to a soldier's family and never got the chance to study much about it. Even during the journey to end the Kharlan War and during the four thousand years spent working under Yggdrasil, he never had the time to do so.

Throughout the time spent together, Kratos had tried to learn as much about magitechnology as he could from Yuan, who was an expert in this field.

One would think that four thousand years was a lot of time to study and maybe master the concept of magitechnology, but since he was one of the Seraphim, there was't much free time left for him after he carried out his duties - _Mithos was such a slave driver at times_...

When he did get some free time, he felt the need to spend more time polishing his other skills like swordsmanship, magic and healing than magitechnology, seeing as how Yuan already had that area covered whenever they needed it.

_I guess it won't hurt if I'm to travel around and learn more about this world before getting down to business, seeing as Derris Kharlan is not in any immediate danger anyway. I also don't think I will be able to learn more about the Order of Lorelei unless sneaking into their archives. It is too dangerous to do so considering my current knowledge, or lack of, of the technology of this world... the best course of action would be to first learn more about this world by traveling around._

In the past few days spent on Auldrant, Kratos always took the time to hear the angel report the situations on Derris Kharlan through the communication set he asked to be prepared for him. Apparently, nothing had happened in Derris Kharlan, leading Kratos to believe that it might be the work of nature that Derris Kharlan started orbiting Auldrant.

_It would be good if that is true, but I doubt the acceleration of Derris Kharlan in the beginning is a mere coincidence._

Having decided his next course of action, Kratos returned all the books he read to their original position and left the library. He then bought a world map and found a quiet place to plan things out.

Looking at the world map, he started planning on the best route to travel if he was to go to all the cities in Auldrant.

_There is also the possibility of finding out about the inner layer of this planet and/or the reason behind Derris Kharlan's unnatural behaviour in other cities. Maybe I'll go around the world to see what I can find out. _

Looking at the church in the middle of the city, Kratos decided to plan out his travel route to be a circle that would take him back here as his final destination. _If I can't find anything from any of the other cities, then I will have no choice but to pay a visit to the archive._

After some more time planning out the route, he rolled up the map and left for the tavern. Deciding to look for a delivery or escorting job to Sheridan and couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of having a whole new world waiting for him to explore.

* * *

_Uploaded on 19 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013. _


	5. The Determination to Protect

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Determination to Protect **

"They went this way!"

"Damn those brats!"

Looking back, the girl saw the three bandits catching up to them, all with looks that promised great pain once they captured them.

"No..." The girl gasped, tears started to flow from her eyes. More sweats formed in her hands and the grasp she had on the hand of the boy in front of her started to loosen.

"Don't look back! Just keep running! I'll figure out what to do!" The boy in front shouted and tightened his grip on the girl.

Setting her gaze back on the boy running in front of her, she tried her best to keep the despairing thought out of her.

Taking advantage of their small bodies, the boy, with the girl following closely behind him, dived into a gap that was too-narrow-for-adults between the cliffs.

"Damn, we can't reach them."

"The two of you go and see if there's an exit on the other side. I'll wait here in case the brats decide to come back this way."

* * *

After they ran into the gap, which led to a huge cave, they decided to stop to take a break.

"What do we do now?" The girl asked with a tiny voice.

"Although we're safe at the moment, we should start walking to the other side of the cave." The boy said firmly, wanting to look brave for the scared girl before him.

"But if we go this way we'll be getting farther and farther away from Baticul." The girl protested weakly, not really wanting to move anymore.

"We will seek help in Chesedonia and father will send people there to take us home." The boy replied as he tore off his sleeve.

The girl gasped the moment the sleeve was not covering his arm anymore. "Let me look at it!" She demanded as she noticed an angry wound on the boy's arm.

"It is just a scratch. It will heal given time." The boy said absentmindedly and dismissed his friend's demand as he struggled to bandage his arm using his other hand.

"Then at least let me help you bandage it." The girl took the cloth away from the boy and started to work on his wound.

"Fine, do what you want." The boy said fighting back a blush that was beginning to spread across his cheek. Suddenly finding the wall next to him interesting, he turned his face away hoping the girl wouldn't notice his blush.

Once the bandage was set in place, the two children decided that they had had enough rest and started towards the other end of the cave.

They walked in silence for about half an hour, before a loud rumbling noise emitted from the girl's stomach cutting through the silence.

Embarrassed, the girl flushed a scarlet red. "I'm sorry, it is unbecoming to a..." The girl trailed off as she stared at the bread offered to her.

"But what about you?"

"A king needs to put his people's need in front of him. Besides, who would leave a princess hungry?"

"But Luke..."

"Don't worry, I've got another loaf of bread and I'm not hungry yet." Luke fon Fabre, son of Duke Fabre and third in line to throne, quickly cut her off as he saw her look and looked away.

Not believing his word, the girl, now identified as Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, princess of the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, reluctantly accepted the bread offered to her.

_I know you're lying, you always look away from the person you are lying to. But thanks._ Natalia thought as a feeling of warmth erupted from inside of her.

"Now that that's settle, let us hurry. We have wasted enough time already." Luke declared as he started walking again.

Natalia's gaze drifted to the boy's retreating back, finally settled on the now-bandaged wound on his left arm. The wound that Luke took in her place.

_If I hadn't tried to sneak away from uncle Goldberg, we wouldn't end up being kidnapped by those bandits..._

**** Three days earlier ****

_Today I'll be able to go out and play with Luke._ A five year old Natalia thought happily as her personal maid helped her dress.

It was not the first time for Natalia to go out, but it was the first time she's going out with Luke to the streets of Baticul and she's excited to go out and play with her cousin.

_I can't wait to see if Luke's idea of sneaking out of the castle will be successful or not._ The other main difference between her would-be trip and her past trip to Baticul was that this time they were going out _without_ their parents' permission.

Natalia didn't like the idea of going out of the castle with escorts from her father. People are always bowing to her when she went out with the escorts and Natalia hated it. There was also the fact that there are many things she cannot do as per the restrictions her father set for her, saying how it was unbecoming to a princess for her to do this and that.

"Princess Natalia, young master Luke is waiting for you at the entrance of the castle." A voice came from outside the her room said.

_Weird, I thought we're meeting in half an hour's time._ Natalia thought as she glanced at the clock.

"Tell him I'll go to see him in 5 minutes."

* * *

"Uncle?" Natalia asked, not sure what was happening when she arrived at the entrance and saw that Luke wass not the only one waiting for her.

However, a glance at Luke's expression told her what she needed to know. _Oops..._

"Good morning, Princess. I heard from my son that the two of you were planning on a trip to the city." Duke Fabre said with an amused look.

"Well... that's... it's not... I mean... wait, did father...?"

Duke Fabre smiled at the girl's stutter and said. "I haven't told the King about it. Instead, I asked for His Majesty's permission and he agreed to let the two of you to go to the city for the day. Colonel Goldberg here will be escorting the two of you." He gestured the man that was standing behind him.

_At least it's only one person. _Natalia thought as she started to look hopeful at the idea of going out to the city with Luke _without_ having to deal with the fear of being caught by her father.

After they went to the city with Colonel Goldberg tagging along, Natalia told Luke that there's a place she wanted to show Luke alone and asked him to help her sneak away for the Colonel. Luke's plan was a success as ten minutes later, a dumbfounded Colonel Goldberg was seen in the crowded streets of Baticul searching for a red haired boy and a brown haired girl within the sea of people.

They ran to a secluded area somewhere near the port and made sure that no one was following them before they stopped to take a breath. What they didn't notice was someone creeping up behind them and swung a bat at them. Luke pushed Natalia away the at last moment and blocked the blow with his left arm. Natalia began to shout but her mouth was covered by a cloth and all she heard was Luke's voice calling her name as she lost consciousness.

* * *

"... Nata... up... lia... wake... Nata... wake up..." She forced her heavy eyelid to open as the voice calling her got clearer and clearer.

"Wake up! Natalia!" She opened her eyes fully and saw Luke sitting opposite to her.

Trying to sit up, Natalia found that she was tied up and couldn't move very well.

"What..." That was when she noticed that the arms and legs of the boy in front of her were also tied up like her.

"We were captured by bandits, I should have noticed them coming at us sooner..."

"No, it's my fault! If I hadn't..." She started, cutting him off as soon as she realized that he was taking the blame to himself.

Refusing to let the princess to take the blame and thinking that it would be tiring to argue with her about who to take the blame, he decided to change the topic.

"The bandits are transporting us using some caravan as cover." He said.

Natalis's eyes widened at the information. "You mean we are not in Baticul anymore!"

"Whoever did this seems to have planned well, they also have soldiers working with them, that's why no one noticed us when we went out of the city." Luke said as he turned his head and nodded at a large crack on the wall.

Natalia gasped after she leaned over and peered out of the crack and saw sand, they were in the desert area.

"What... what do we do now?... do... do you think father will come to save us?" Tears started to form at the corner of her eyes as she realized just how dangerous the situation they were in.

"I am sure he will send out search parties once Colonel Goldberg reports to him that we are missing, but it will take some time before he realized that we are not in the city anymore..." Luke trailed off as he noticed the tears flowing down Natalia's face.

"Stop it, crying won't do anything! All we have to do is wait for a chance to escape."

"But..."

"Do you want to stay behind and take the chance of dying by these bandits' hand?" At his words, Natalia started crying harder.

Seeing that his words had an opposite effect on the princess instead, Luke continued with a softer tone, "Everything will be alright, they won't kill us so soon after all the trouble they went through to kidnap us."

Neither children said anything after that, the only sound between them being Natalia's hiccup, as each was absorbed in their own thought.

* * *

When the caravan finally stopped three hours later, the two Kimlascan aristocrats were hauled by the two people that captured them into a cave, which Natalia assumed to be their hideout, in the desert.

They were led to a room that looked to be a prison. Once the bandit left them, they noticed an elderly person sitting against the wall at the other end of the prison. After realizing that the other person was also a captive of the bandits, Luke told Natalia he was going to untie the ropes that bound them.

"Master Luke? Are you Luke fon Fabre, son of Duke Fabre?" Asked the elderly person that were sharing the prison with them.

"What if I am?" Luke gritted out as he tried to untie the knob of the rope that bound his arms together with his teeth.

"Come here, let me untie the ropes for you." At the man's answer, Natalia realized that the man was not restricted in any way like they were.

_The bandits probably think he is too weak to escape._ She concluded as she noticed that the man was suffering from a serious case of malnutrition.

"..." Weighing over his choices, Luke finally crawled over to the man's side and told Natalia to stay where she was in case the man did something other than untying him.

After what seemed like hours, the knob on the rope that bound Luke's arm slacken under the man's shaking hand. After thanking the man, Luke went to work on the ropes on his legs.

"You can escape from the hole behind me." The man said after Luke untied Natalia, causing both children to stop whatever they were doing and looked up at him. "I have been sitting here to hide the hole from the bandits." The man slowly moved away from the spot he had been sitting on, revealing a hole, which was only large enough for children to pass through, on the wall.

"What about you? Although the hole is not very large, you should be able to squeeze through it considering how thin you are. Why haven't you escaped yet and why do you know my name?" Luke questioned suspiciously and narrowed his eyes at the man.

"Luke!" Natalia gasped at Luke's tone and began to scold him about being rude to people that just helped them. "That is..."

However, she was cut off by a grumbling noise that vaguely sounds like laughter from the elderly man. "It is alright, I am glad that the one chosen by Lorelei himself grew up to be such a fine little man."

"Don't use the word little to describe me!" Luke exclaimed angrily.

However, the man's laughter only increased to his irritation. Deciding not to waste anymore breath, he tried his best to settle down, though a scowl was visible on his face.

"You haven't answered my question yet."

"Excuse me for laughing, it is a long time since I last spent time with someone other than those bandits." He paused and looked at the two kids sitting in front of him. Satisfied at the attention they were paying at him, he continued.

"I am a scorer that was captured and forced to read the Score to the bandits. However, apart from their score, I have also read my own Score. I learned about your capture from the Score and the Score also told me to assist you to escape. But even without knowing the Score, I'm too old and weak to 'squeeze' through the hole."

"The Score..." Luke trailed off.

"Now that we are here, we can help you. Let us escape together!" Natalia quickly said upon noticing the look on Luke's face.

"No. I still have things to do and besides, considering my health, I will only be a burden." The elderly man had a gentle smile and calm look as he said the words that would very well condemn his own life.

"But-" Natalia began, but was cut off by her friend's raised hand.

"Is it something about the Score again?" The man's eyes twinkled at Luke's deduction.

"Let's go Natalia. There is nothing more we can do to convince him." And with that, Luke crawled through the hole.

"Wha... but! Wait! Luke!" Looking back at the elderly man one last time, Natalia bowed her head at him and went after Luke.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered.

**** End Flashback ****

As they walked further into the cave, the feeling of fear and despair once again crept up on Natalia. The fear that they might have been walking to a dead end and the despair that they might never be able to go back to their home again.

"What if there's no other exit? Will we be trapped here until we... die?" She mumbled, not wanting to raise her voice, as if fearing the answer to her question.

"We will find a way. I refuse to die after all the training I've been put through to be a suitable leader. Trust me, we will get back to Baticul, after all, I am the _destined one _to lead Kimlasca to it's prosperity." Luke said firmly._  
_

Hearing Luke's tone, Natalia looked down at her feet as she followed him. _That's right, you have always worked so hard to become the ideal leader in uncle's eyes. Even though you are younger than me and have to endure training harsher than mine, you never complained and always encouraged me. Even now..._

_Thank you and I am sorry for everything that happened up till now, Luke. I promise that after we go __back to Baticul, I will try my best to be a better and stronger princess, one that won't let her people face any danger and one that has the power to protect them. _Natalia thought with determination and fell in step behind Luke.

* * *

_Uploaded on 22 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	6. What an Angel Hates Most

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; Character reading from a book/passage

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 5: What an Angel Hates Most**

"Arr!" A man with an ugly scar on his face cried out as a sword impaled him.

Pulling his blade out of the now dead man, Kratos ducked a blow aimed at his head. He hit the abdomen of the man behind him with the hilt of his sword and turned a full circle while the man was still recovering from the hit and, with the help of momentum, landed a powerful kick at the man's abdomen sending him crashing against the wall of the cave.

Coughing up blood, the man tried to stand using the wall as his leverage to no avail.

"No... this shouldn't... the Score... damn him... if we hadn't... the brats..." were the final words of the man as Kratos' sword ran through him.

_The Score again? Did this man receive a Score telling him to be a bandit or something similar?_ Kratos thought as the man slid off his sword and crumbled to the ground.

After making sure that none of the bandits survived, he started to search the lair for the diamonds he was told to retrieve.

During his travel, Kratos saw how dependent people were on the Score, some, mostly the ones in Daath, even to the point that they needed the Score read to them before deciding where to go and what to do for the day.

_I thought the books were exaggerating on the Score, but it seems I'm wrong. People here do rely on the score too much._

After making up his mind, Kratos went to the taverns in Daath to look for a job that required him traveling to Sheridan, but it seems luck was not on his side as no job offered at the taverns involved leaving Daath.

He stayed in Daath for several days more, all the while reading more books in the library, listening to people's gossip and doing some random jobs to earn money, before setting off to Sheridan on his own. Since he decided to avoid doing anything that required mana consumption as much as possible, he took a ship from Daath Bay to Port Sheridan.

Although the living standard of the people in Auldrant was not yet up to par with his own when he was living the life of an aristocrat in Tethe'alla before he left with Mithos and the others during the Kharlan War, he was still very much fascinated by the fon machines in Sheridan and spent nearly a week there to learn as much as he could about fon tech. He also did some digging up and took on more jobs in Sheridan.

Once he decided that he had had enough money for another boat trip to Port Belkend and that nothing suspicious could be found in the city related to Derris Kharlan's condition, he accepted a job to deliver some research materials to Belkend, where he spent another few days doing some investigation before continuing on his way to Baticul.

To get to Baticul from Belkend, he had to pass through Inista Marsh. He had heard from the people in Belkend that they mostly traveled to Baticul by sea as many powerful monsters resided in Inista Marsh. However, upon hearing about the strong monsters, he decided to go to Inista Marsh for some training.

Although he still trained in Derris Kharlan with other angels, he could never use his full power fearing that he would accidentally kill his opponents and/or involve some random passersby. Although there's still the monsters in the lower levels in Derris Kharlan, he had fought against them so much that it became boring sometime a few hundred years ago.

However, if it was an area full of monsters he had never seen before and an area that people rarely stepped foot in, he could unleash his full power without the fear of killing another person. Besides, he always enjoyed the thrill of fighting, especially in a life and death situation.

He spent four days traversing Inista Marsh, all the while fighting his way through hordes after hordes of monsters. He realized that since he cannot rely on his enhanced strength and magic as much as he liked due to mana consumption, he will need to further improve his swordsmanship if he were to encounter more powerful enemies in the future. All in all, he decided that it was good exercise and would come back for more training if time permitted.

It wasn't pleasant getting into Baticul. The soldiers stationed on the bridge leading to the city told him that only those with a passport could enter Baticul and then 'politely' sent him away. Hoping to find another way to enter the city without anyone noticing, he circled the city's perimeter and found a ladder leading to what looked like an abandoned factory. Upon reaching the other end of the factory, he had to sneak past the two soldiers standing guard to get into the city.

While in Baticul, he avoided human contact as much as possible to prevent being noticed by the authorities in the city and questioned about his presence in the city without a passport. He spent another week there investigating and polishing his swordsmanship, before once again going through the abandoned factory and left Baticul.

As soon as he entered the desert, he was stopped by a merchant.

**** Flashback ****

"Ah, there you are!" The merchant, accompanied by five bodyguards, exclaimed as soon as he saw Kratos, as if he was waiting for him.

"The Score is right, thanks Lorelei!" The merchant exclaimed yet again as he walked to stand before Kratos.

"…"

Taking out a wad of money, the merchant asked Kratos to help him retrieve the diamonds some bandits took away from him.

_No, not asked, more like demand. "_How do you know I'm coming?" Not that he was going to refuse the job, but he was concerned about the fact that the merchant was _waiting_ for him and was also curious about the comment about the Score, though he had a general idea already.

"The Score of course! A scorer read to me that I'm to meet a mercenary who would retrieve for me what I've lost, near the path leading to the desert."

_So it is the Score again... though I can't deny the accuracy of its prediction. _Finding no reason to refuse the man, Kratos accepted the merchant's job and went on his retrieval mission.

_Besides, I am sure he will cause a scene if I am to refuse the job. Maybe he will also say something like how I shouldn't defy the will of the Score or something similar..._

**** End Flashback ****

Using the key he found on one of the bandits' corpses, he opened a door at the back of the hideout and found the diamonds as described by the merchant in the next room.

"... anyone..." Once he collected the diamonds, his enhanced hearing picked up a voice from somewhere behind the wall.

_Probably someone captured. _Decided the voice sounded too weak to be another bandit, Kratos started making his way to the source of the voice.

* * *

He saw an old man lying in the middle of a room that could only be described as a prison. _Fancy stuff for the bandits to have in their hideout._ Kratos thought as he took in the design of the room.

"... you..."

"Save your breath for later." Kratos knelt down next to the man and checked his condition.

"... no use..." The man was right, he was near the end of his life, it was too late for him to receive any treatment.

With what strength he had left, the man took a book out of his pocket and handed it to Kratos.

"... read it..." And then the man was dead.

Looking at the cover of the book, Kratos decided to take a look at it's content to see if he can help the man fulfill whatever dying wish he had.

The book seems to be a diary, written in blood, that recorded the events during the man's imprisonment. As Kratos read through the first few pages, he concluded that the man was a scorer and was captured to read the Score to the bandits.

He skimmed through the book and found that towards the end of the book, instead of descriptions of the day's event, the entries were actually the Score of the scorer himself.

Ifiritday, Sylph-Decan 44, ND2005

The caged scorer will meet the one who inherits the power of Lorelei, also known as the Light of the Sacred Flame, and the one who is known to the others as the sole princess of Kimlasca. He will assist them in whatever ways he could. Then The Light of the Sacred Flame will part ways with the caged scorer, who is to wait for the one who comes from a far away place.

Undineday, Sylph-Decan 45, ND2005

The caged scorer will meet the one who comes from a far away place. He who is named the Dawn of Strength will assist the Light of the Sacred Flame and cast judgment upon those who sinned with his holy chains.

_... although I knew that I am within the Score's prediction from the merchant's word, this is uncanny. _Kratos glared at his description in the entries, finding it difficult to believe that he, someone who came from _another_ planet, was also predicted, and with such accuracy, by the Score.

_Especially that part about casting judgement... _Kratos mentally ran through the words he always said when casting his two most powerful angelic skill, Shining Bind and Judgment.

Then he turned to the last page of the book that was filled with words that was not a Score.

Ifiritday, Sylph-Decan 44, ND2005

I am glad I can be of assistance to Luke-sama and Natalia-sama, as the Score had predicted, now all I have to do is wait. I know that once the bandits noticed them missing, I will be in for some beating, but I have to fulfill the Score as a scorer of the Order of Lorelei.

_I guess the man's dying message was for me to go after the Fabre kid and the princess. _During his stay in Baticul, he had learned of the destined child, Luke fon Fabre, which meant 'Light of the Sacred Flame' in Ancient Ispanian Language, that was to lead Kimlasca to prosperity according to the Score.

_But was it really worthwhile for him to stay behind just to fulfill the score?_ Kratos thought as he noticed the hole on the wall in front of him, a hole that is too small for a full grown adult but large enough for children.

The scorer may also be able to escape through the hole if he tried. But instead he chose to remain, even though he knew he would most likely die from the beatings of the bandits once they discovered the two children escaped.

A piece of paper dropped out of the diary as Kratos stood up. Picking up the piece of paper, Kratos found that it was another Score written in blood.

Loreleiday, Sylph-Decan 40, ND2005

The man who kills for wealth will be approached by The One Who Would Seize Glory in the Capital of Light. There he will receive a mission that will change his fate.

_So the bandit did receive a Score to wreak havoc..._ Kratos narrowed his eyes as another thought crept up on him.

_What would happen if the bandits didn't receive whatever mission it is from this 'The One Who Would Seize Glory'? Will they even follow the same path if they are not aware of the Score? What if the scorer left with the children? He may still have a chance to live._

Kratos pocketed the diary and started to leave as another disturbing thought came to him.

_What if it was written in the Score for someone to die and they were to live longer than the Score predicted? Will they be killed without any reason just to fulfill the Score?_

He left the bandit's lair and went to rescue the two kids that were kidnapped and escaped not long ago.

Though he didn't like the idea of following the Score, he hated the idea to turn away from people, especially children, in need. However, even that didn't equate to his hatred for those that sought to overthrow his son's belief.

_No one should live a predetermined live. _Kratos thought as he recalled what Lloyd, and also Mithos four thousand years ago, had once said.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

_Kratos_ comes from the Greek word _Cratos_, meaning _strength_, and _Aurion_ means _morning_ in Greek. So _Kratos Aurion_ also means _morning of strength_ or _strong morning._ - from the Tales Wiki page

Though Kratos' name translated to the 'morning of strength' in Greek, I changed it to the 'dawn of strength' to make it sound better. Anyway, it's Ancient Ispanian Language, not Greek we are talking about..

I've got my first reviewer! Thanks DeathhunterAshi for your review! I'm glad to know that there is someone who like my idea! You even took the time to read my long and boring profile!

_Uploaded on 24 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	7. Lessons Learned from a Setback

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

- A month in Auldrant has 58 days, except for Lorelei Decan that has 60 days.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 6: Lessons Learned from a Setback**

Hours after the news of Luke and Natalia went missing got to the King and Duke Fabre, search parties were sent to each and every part of Baticul. Soldiers were seen searching every alleys and corners, even knocking on some of the residents' homes and requesting their cooperation to let them search their homes and, discreetly, asked them if they had seen a light brown haired girl and a red haired boy.

The king decided to keep the missing of the two aristocrats secret for the time being, not wanting any spies from Malkuth to know of their panic and strike at their most chaotic moment. Even though it wasn't long since the last war ended and an anti-war sentiment was agreed by both, due to the several hundred year long resentment, the tension between the two kingdoms was always so thick you can cut it with a knife.

Not knowing when their neighbouring country would strike, Kimlasca had a spy network in Malkuth monitoring the country's movement and reporting any happenings worth mentioning. The king was sure that if they had spies in Malkuth, then the opposite was also true.

_But even with their spies all over Malkuth, they never found out a__bout Fomicry. _A brown haired man, who looked to be in his early twenties, thought as he looked at the direction where Baticul was located from his position perched on a window sill in his room in one of the hotels in Chesedonia.

Chesedonia, the desert city that was also known as the trading center, was the only autonomous state, apart from the Order of Lorelei, in Auldrant. The founder of this city, Astor, was also a merchant himself and, under his jurisdiction, the city had become a heaven for merchants. Both refugees from Kimlasca and Malkuth, and merchants from all over the world resided in the city and thousands of trades were settled everyday.

_Well, I guess it doesn't matter anymore now that I have found someone who can do the Fomicry expe__riment for me. And with that- _The man's thought was interrupted by a knock on the door to his hotel room.

He jumped down from the window sill and went to answer the knocking on his door. He opened the door, he saw a woman wearing a brown and black dress standing outside. Without any word, the woman handed him a folded piece of paper. After he took the paper, the woman nodded once and left. The man then closed the door and went to sit on the bed in his room and unfolded the note.

_It is ironic that both Kimlasca and Malkuth never thought of the possibility of having spies from a third party, one that both think of as harmless and trust thoroughly. _With an amused smile, the man left the hotel after he read the note his _spy_ gave him.

As the brown haired man walked through the busy streets of Chesedonia, merchants shouted to him to come and take a look at their stocks. However, the man, who was in reality just a teenager at the age of fifteen, ignored the merchants' calling at him.

As he left Chesedonia and went into the desert, he thought about the things he were going to do and accomplish, and the hardship he went through.

* * *

Three years ago, the teenager, who was still just a child, had lost his home in Hod and, with nothing else to do now that the House he served was gone, he decided to follow the footsteps of his adopted grandfather in Yulia City and joined the Order of Lorelei and became an Oracle Knight.

He later heard that his master, the heir and sole survivor of the House of Count Gardios, became a servant boy at the mansion of Duke Fabre, the one who slew his family, in order to look for a chance to kill him and revenge his dead family and all those that was in Hod when it was destroyed.

After he became an Oracle Knight of the Order of Lorelei, the mayor of Yulia City, his adopted grandfather, decided to let him know about the Closed Score, something that he would need to protect with his life if and when his elderly grandfather was to retire. That was when he found out that the destruction of Hod was written in the Closed Score.

He then knew that the real one at fault was not Kimlasca or Malkuth, for the Fomicry experiment they did that caused Hod to _collapse_ into Qliphoth, or himself_, _for the artificial hyperresonance that was generated when he reacted with the experimental device for Fomicry, or the Order of Lorelei, for the decision to let it all happen just to fulfill the Score and not do anything to help the many lives that were lost with Hod when it _collapsed_ into Qliphoth, but the Score that the Order of Lorelei tried so hard to protect and made sure that everyone followed word by word .

Yes, the real one at fault was the Score, which everyone in this world believed to be able to lead them to a glorious life. He was glad to know that the seventh fonstone, the last fonstone that Yulia carved the Score onto and the same stone that he had been protecting while serving the House of Count Gardios, was thought to be lost with Hod's destruction.

Though, in reality, only part of the seventh fonstone was lost, he was able to secure some fragments of it before Hod collapsed. He had not told his even grandfather about it. He would make sure that no one get their hands on the final fonstone. He alone would find a way to read the Score written on the final fonstone without others knowing and would find a way to defy whatever was written in the Score.

Covering the anger and hatred he felt towards the Score, he continued his life as an Oracle Knight in the Order of Lorelei. He tried his best to work his way up in the Order of Lorelei, all the while trying to earn respects from his colleagues and looking for those that shared his thoughts and had the potential to become powerful allies.

However, he learned that it was near impossible for him to gain others' respect no matter what he did, seeing that he was just a child. He also realized how easily adults got jealous at the thought of a child prodigy working with them taking all theirglory. That was when he decided to try and present himself to be older than he actually was. It was still difficult to earn respects and new comrades. But at the very least he was making progress.

After deciding that he had had enough resources, he created a spy network in both Malkuth, Kimlasca and even Chesedonia to help him further his goal.

During one of his trip to exchange information with his spy in Sheridan, he met a lone man wandering Meggiora Highlands.

**** Flashback ****

The man was blindly killing monsters after monsters, with no care of his own injuries. It was as if the man was just venting out his frustration at the monsters and was resolved to fight to his death.

After the last monster was disposed of, the man fell on his back, lying face up from the ground and closed his eyes.

_Is he dead? _The now fourteen year old teen strolled over to the man.

As he got nearer to the man, he realized how large the man was.

_If my estimation is correct, this man is over two mete__rs tall. _The teen thought as he went to check the man's pulse.

Upon noticing a faint pulse on the man, he started to heal him using one of his Fonic Hymns. After the spell had taken effect, the man's breath became calmer than before, though there was still no sign of him waking up soon.

_I don't think it is wise for me to left him behind in the wild or to carry him all the way to Sheridan, seeing as how heavy he looks. _He started looking around for any place that was suitable for the man to rest. His gaze finally settled on a natural cave some distance away.

He dragged the large and heavy man to the cave. By the time they reached the cave, the teen was thoroughly exhausted and decided to take a rest himself and wait for the man to wake up.

* * *

_No man living willingly by the Score will ever think of committing suicide. After all, the Score is said to lead them to prosperity, __unless some tragedies happened to him as foretold by the Score. _The teen thought as he looked at the still unconscious man lying before him.

_Judging from his fighting skill, I may be able to gain a power__ful ally._ He had a wry smile as he thought of the possibilities of having such a powerful ally.

The man woke up hours later and after some convincing, he learned of the man, Badaq Oakland's misfortune with the Score.

_So the current princess of Kimlasca is a fake one and in truth, this man's daughter who were switched to replace the real one who was born dead. Yes, I can see his hatred in the Score. Now, let's see how to do this..._

The teen proceeded to share with the man his own past experience with the Score. He then went on and told Badaq that he was trying to find a way to overthrow the Score and asked if Badaq was willing to join his course.

"Badaq Oakland, the Lion of the Desert, is no more. He died the moment his wife, Sylvia, committed suicide and the moment he learned of his daughter's fate as foretold by the Score. Give me a new name and from now on, the man with the new name you assign will aid you in overthrowing the Score."

"Very well," and after a slight pause, he continued, "you will be called Largo the Black Lion from now on."

_**** **_**End Flashback ****

He had found a powerful ally in Largo the Black Lion. After he brought Largo back with him to the Order of Lorelei, Largo became an Oracle Knight. Together the two of them worked their way up in the Order of Lorelei and, although the teen knew that it would still be a long time for him to be promoted to a high enough position to have _official _access to the Closed Score, with Largo's presence by his side, it was much easier for him to gain other's respect than before.

However, even that was not enough. Even if he and his new found allies were to succeed in controlling the Order of Lorelei and defying the Score, people would just find a way to revive the Score. That's right, all the people residing in Auldrant were corrupted by the Score. It's too late for them to find a way to live without depending on the Score. The only way to save the world from the curse known as the Score was through Fomicry, the technology to replicate human.

How ironic, Fomicry, the research that destroyed his home, was also the key to free the world of the Score. He believed that with Fomicry, he could replace the world with replicas, 'people' that have no prior knowledge of the Score and would be able to live without relying on the Score, thus breaking the curse of the Score.

He tried to have his spies in Malkuth steal the data on the Fomicry experiment, but since Fomicry was considered the top military secret in Malkuth, none of his spies managed to extract any data regarding its research.

However, luck was on his side when he received news of the lead scientist, the Necromancer Jade Curtiss, showing signs of wanting to abandon his research, while the other lead scientist, Dr. Saphir Wyon Neis, was still in the dark of his partner's thought and still hell bent on finding ways to better the experiment.

Not wanting to waste his chance, he went to Grand Chokmah with the intention of recruiting the one that held the key that could help him realize his goal.

**** Flashback ****

"What are you talking about? Jade would never do that! And who are you to accuse him of something that... that _ridiculous_!?" The bespectacled man in front of him shouted, disbelief and anger apparent on his expression.

"My name is not important, and as I have told you just now, I have my own source, one that I don't want to reveal to you at the moment." The brown haired man, no, _teenager,_ calmly replied.

"Yeah right, you, someone who sneaked into my home and knew of the top military secret, suddenly accused that my _childhood_ friend, a friend that I have known nearly my whole life, is going to abandon the research that we were working so hard on, to abandon _me, _this is laughable."

"Then let me ask you, when was the last time you saw you childhood friend working on Fomicry?"

"...what does that have to do with it? Besides, Jade is also a soldier who was just promoted due to his achievements during the war and has other duties to perform, it is only normal for him to be seen less in the labs nowadays."

"Oh really? That sounds to me an excuse you made to persuade yourself."

"... no, I am not going to trust you. You don't know what we went through, you don't know the reason behind this research, the driving force behind him, behind _us_." The lavender haired man replied and narrowed his eyes at the teen standing before him.

"If this driving force you just mentioned is so great, then don't you think it is weird for him to turn his focus away from the research?"

"No, he's not! Even I sometimes need to work on other projects as per my position as a lead scientist in the Grand Chokmah Research Laboratory! No, Jade would never do... he would never even _think _to abandon Fomicry!" He protested.

"You are in denial, surely someone as close to him as you and someone who is smart enough to become the leader of a top secret military research could tell that something is wrong lately."

"... no... he's not... that is..."

Although the reflection of light on his glasses blocked the eyes of the scientist making it impossible to tell what he was thinking about, the adult-looking teenager knew he had struck a nerve.

After what seemed like an eternity, which was in fact only two minutes, the scientist asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

The teenager smiled inwardly at the scientist's question. _Got you._

"I am in need of a scientist, one that is brilliant enough to reproduce and carry out the Fomicry experiment, and I think you will fit the job perfectly. I had done some research on your background, Dr. Neis, I know very well what the driving force you were talking about is. I propose that you join me if you still want to revive _her, _and who knows, maybe the Necromancer will even thank and start looking up at you after you successfully revived _her _on your own."

"Just who are you? And what do you want with Fomicry?" The man, Dr. Saphir Wyon Neis, one of the lead researchers in the Grand Chokmah Research Laboratory, asked with a look of calculation.

"Someone in Daath with the means to hide you from Malkuth and let you carry out your experiments in secret. As to why, let's just say that I am someone who is very interested in the results of Fomicry and the possibilities that could be made through it." He answered with a wry smile.

After a long moment of silence, Saphir finally replied. "_If_, and I still don't believe your words, Jade really abandons Fomicry and I don't have the funds or means to run it anymore, then I _may _think about your offer."

"Very well, come to Daath and seek for Van Grants if you decided to take up my offer then."

**** End Flashback ****

Saphir did seek him out in Daath after Fomicry was banned in Malkuth nearly half a month ago. Since Van knew that Fomicry was going to be banned and that Saphir would go to him after that happened, he had everything required for the Fomicry experiment, the materials that his spies told him about, prepared before Saphir arrived.

Van was amazed by how efficient Saphir, who now called himself Dist to avoid being noticed by Malkuth, was when he told him that he could have the machine for Fomicry ready in merely five weeks time, eager to resume his research. That was after he settled down in the Order of Lorelei about twenty days ago.

Apparently although Dist left behind all his research data in Grand Chokmah, he had photographic memory for everything related to the fon machines he designed and created.

Not exactly a very patient person, Van decided to commence his plan, starting with Luke fon Fabre, Light of the Sacred Flame, the chosen one of Lorelei. He desired the power of hyperresonance that resided in Luke and had made a perfect plan, one that required the use of Fomicry, to make the boy's power his.

* * *

_They sure are efficient, it is only the sixth day since I gave them the job and they already found a way to bring him to me. Now I just have to wait for Dist to finish the Fomicry machine._

As he neared the assigned location where he would meet the bandits hired for the job, he heard the sound of fighting somewhere nearby.

Looking towards the direction of the sound of fighting, he saw someone lying on the ground and three other people, all with their swords drawn, fighting against each other. He also noticed two kids huddling together and how one of the men was standing before the huddled kids as if protecting them from the other two men.

Having a bad feeling, Van slowly crept towards the fighting scene. _I hope it is not what I think..._

However, as he neared the battlefield, he saw that the one lying on the ground and mostly likely dead, was one of the bandits he met when he made the deal with them. He also saw that even though it was two to one, and that the man in purple garb had to defend the children behind him while fighting, he was having an upper hand.

_Not good._ Van frowned as the second last bandit crumbled to the ground after receiving a fatal wound from the purple garbed man.

With some quick thinking, Van rushed to the last remaining bandit and ran his sword through his heart from his back. As the last bandit slid off Van's sword and fell, dead even before he hit the ground, Van stared intently at the man in front of him.

"Thanks for taking out the bandits, I have been following their trail for quite some time." Van said with a smile on his face, though inwardly he was cursing his luck.

_The moment he turned around would be the moment I strike. _He thought, his fist clenching over his sword hilt, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"..." Without saying any word, the red haired man that just _destroyed_ his plan casted a spell _without_ turning around to check on the children.

"First Aid." The wound on the right thigh of the boy, the one he should be taking back to Daath with him _now_ if not for this man, stopped bleeding. The girl watched on with widened eyes, amazed at the power that healed her friend's wound.

_A Seventh Fonist? _Van thought as he watched on.

"Do you know where the bandits' hideout is? I am to locate it and take out all the bandits that were terrorizing the merchants going to Chesedonia through the desert." Van asked.

"I already took care of that, though there is a chance that some of them were not in the hideout when I went there. Their lair is about two miles southwest of here." The man replied.

After watching the display of strength of the mercenary as he fought against the two bandits, whose skills weren't very bad themselves_, _and hearing about the mercenary's venture to the bandits' lair, Van decided not to take his chance fighting against this apparently very skilled man.

It also didn't help that the mercenary had no intention of exposing his back to a stranger with sword in hand.

_Now that the plan has failed, I had to make sure that none of bandits are left alive. _He decided to go to the bandit's lair later to see if anyone was still alive.

"That's fine then. You look to be a mercenary, were you hired to rescue the two kids?" He asked.

"Really? Did father hired you to help us?" The girl, the one that he knew to be the fake princess of Kimlasca, looked up from her current task of bandaging the wound of her friend, who tried swatting her away saying he was fine.

"No. I only stumbled upon the scene where the two of you were chased by the bandits and decided to help." The mercenary replied as he tuned his head slightly to look at the girl.

"Oh..." The girl said disappointed and started looking down at the ground.

"I am going to Chesedonia, I can drop you off there if you want." The mercenary added after seeing the deflated look on the girl.

"Thank you." The red haired boy, who had remained silent throughout the whole exchange, said.

Smiling at her friend's reply, the girl also thanked the mercenary before returning to her task to bandage her friend's wound, which, to her surprise, was already finished by her friend.

She then grabbed one of the arms of the boy and helped him stand up. The boy looked embarrassed and tried to shake off the girl, but she insisted that he won't be able to stand up on his own and told him to stop being stubborn.

The boy looked away from the girl then said. "Fine, do what you want."

The girl shook her head at her friend's behaviour before turning to the mercenary. "We are ready now."

The mercenary nodded once and gestured the pair to go first.

"Let's go to Chesedonia to look for help." The girl told the boy, who replied with a nod, with a wide smile on her face and, together with her friend, started walking towards Chesedonia.

"It will be about four hours before we reached Chesedonia." The man said and followed after the two kids.

_There still isn't any opening for me to strike even though he's walking away from me. _Van thought frustratingly as he glared at the retreating back of the mercenary and wasn't sure whether he should respect the man for being so skilled and always on guard or be annoyed at the fact that he couldn't do anything.

He was still facing the direction of Chesedonia after the three people disappeared from view. He decided that he would take his time from now on and thought of a much better plan next time.

_I guess I shouldn't rush it, especially considering how complicated and grand my scheme is going to be. I will tread carefully from now on. I will make sure that no loopholes could be found no matter how I look at the plan before executing it. How ironic, this setback actually makes me realize how crude my plan was. From now on I will wait, wait patiently for the perfect moment to strike, and no one will be able to stop me._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

The events in chapter 3, where Kratos part ways with Saphir in Daath, happened about 30 days before the events in this chapter.

It wasn't my intention to make the chapter longer or shorter... just that there's so much I wanted to include in this chapter... it may or may not happen again in the chapters to come, so don't feel disappointed if some chapters are very long and some very short.

Also, I guess you may have noticed how I skipped some of the scenes. I'm not a skillful writer and plotter. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to think of and write out the 'missing' scenes...

_Uploaded on 27 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	8. Echoes of a Shattered Friendship

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 7: Echoes of a Shattered Friendship**

Being the emperor of a whole kingdom was most people's wish, yes, _most,_ but not _all_, there would always be people that had no desire to become an emperor. He was one of the few people that had no desire to lead a whole nation, even with all the wealth and power that came with it.

_I can never understand how anyone would want to become the king... with all the responsibilities that comes with it and the freedom that would be gone once they become the king..._ A dark skinned man with straw colored hair thought as he stared out the window at the blue sky.

Piles of papers stood on the desk in front of him, as if _demanding_ him to continue his work. However, he ignored the documents that were covering his whole desk and continued his daydream.

_If that is the life of Crown Prince, I dread the moment when my father retires or dies._ He shuddered at the thought of more paper work awaiting his scrutiny and signature.

Peony Upala Malkuth, the crown prince of the Malkuth Empire, the one that was foretold by the Score to become the next emperor, sighed and went over to the window he had been staring at.

_I understand the importance of being the Crown Prince and the future Emperor, but... _ The dark skinned prince paused as he looked down from the window and saw some soldiers chatting with each other when they thought no one was looking.

_How I wish I could go back to those time. _His thought then wandered to a group of three that was known as the troublemakers, but at the same time, respected and feared by the residents in Keterburg, the city where he grew up.

The group that was consisted of Peony Upala Malkuth, the prince that was sent to Keterburg to hide from his other brothers, and the twin genius: Jade Balfour, the devil child and the Fonic Arte genius who was later adopted by the Curtiss family due to his talent and now known as the Necromancer, and Saphir Wyon Neis, the Fontect genius and the inventor of many of the gadgets that improved the living standard of the people in Auldrant.

_But I guess that was just wishful thinking. _A bittersweet smile appeared on his face as he thought of the many mischief caused by the three of them, well, mostly they were Peony's ideas while Jade was forced along and Saphir just followed Jade.

_I wonder what Nephry is doing now..._ The other thing that Peony hated when he became the crown prince was to leave behind his first love, the younger sister of one of his partner in crime, in Ketelburg.

_At least Jade is in Grand Chokmah with me, but Saphir..._ A knock on his door brought him back from his thought.

"Enter."

The door opened and a chestnut haired man in a navy blue uniform entered his office.

"Your Highne-" The man started only to be cut off by Peony.

"Any news on Saphir?"

"No. I am afraid we don't have any other choices left."

Silence reigned in the room as the two man stared at each other, each understanding what that last choice was about.

"... there's still gotta be some other ways." Peony said, refusing to do _that_ to the missing pale lavender haired scientist.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, I don't think... "

"Don't you dare start! If not for you saying that you would think of how to deal with him _after _the announcement and not _before, _and that you were _sure_ he would just listen to everything you said, _this_ will not happen!"

"... what passed is past, there is nothing else we can do now, getting angry over something like this will not accomplish anything." The man calmly replied after a slight pause. The rare display of anger by Peony seemed to have momentarily stunned him.

Hearing the tone of the man, Peony sighed and started to calm down.

"You are right... how I hate it when you are always right, but why not this time, Jade? Why is it that you are wrong this time?" Peony asked tiredly as he strolled over to the chair he previously occupied.

He sat, more like slumped, down on the chair and continued, "I also hate how you don't look as frustrated as me, isn't Saphir your best friend? How come you can still be so calm? I know you are very good at controlling your emotions, sometimes even to the point that I doubt that you have any at all, but this..."

"Please don't joke, you know I never considered anyone my best friend, much less him." Jade said cutting off Peony.

Narrowing his eyes at Jade, Peony said after a slight pause. "Then what was it about the near destruction of the forest in western Sylvana I heard about? It seems to me someone is venting, seeing as how the monsters there were killed so brutally."

"That means nothing, I was just doing some damage control to make sure our valuable research won't fall into the wrong hands and, to do that, I need to make sure he wouldn't be able to leave the forest." Jade said with an eerily empty voice.

_He is dead serious! _Noticing the look and tone of the Necromancer, Peony gasped and felt the blood drain from his face. "What!? You seriously wanted to kill him!?"

"It is my duty as a soldier of Malkuth to put the safety of the empire above all, he became a criminal and threat to Malkuth the moment he left Grand Chokmah. Who knows what kind of inhumane experiments he would do if left alone, don't forget that the experiments for Fomicry requires _living human, _and as far as I understand, he has no qualms with it."

Feeling an impending headache, Peony leaned back on his chair and covered his face with his palm. "I could never understand how you could be so...! Never mind, leave me alone and let me think on it."

"As you wish." And with that, Jade clicked his heels together and left Peony's office.

Once the door to his office was closed, Peony went to grab some water to drink, hoping to calm himself down.

Though he never complained about his two friends' research, he was glad to hear that Jade wanted to pull out from it. After all, as the Crown Prince, he loved his people and hated it when his friends used his people as experimental subjects, even when said subjects were criminals waiting to be executed.

Well, they didn't just use criminals, but also the dead bodies that could be found on the battlefield were hauled back by Jade to their research lab to run the experiment on. That was one of the reason Jade was also known as the Necromancer, the one that killed hundreds during the war and collected the dead bodies.

How ironic that the one called the Necromancer was also the one decided to put a stop to the Fomicry experiments, to stop experimenting on both living and dead humans.

He was happy for Jade's decision, but at the same time he feared Saphir's reaction to it. He had asked Jade about it but the soldier simply waved him off saying he would deal with Saphir later, when he had time. Peony trusted Jade and decided to leave Saphir to him. He doubted it would do any good to the sensitive scientist if he were the one to break the news to him, seeing as how he was often referred to as the 'pea brain' by Saphir. Besides, Saphir practically _worshiped_ Jade and everything he did.

_I should have tried to talk to him beforehand, and now I have lost one of my remaining friends._ It pained Peony deeply when he learned of Saphir's desertion, maybe even more than it pained Jade, if he felt anything _at all_.

He knew very well how close his two other friends are, but the fact remained that Jade was always somewhat distant and cold. It was also unnerving how he could simply disregard Saphir's health and safety when it came to some of the experiments that Jade asked Saphir to let him perform _on _him.

With Saphir gone, Peony only had Jade left with him in Grand Chokmah, but it would never be the same again. In fact, Peony sometimes valued his friendship with Saphir even more than that with Jade.

Well, others might think the opposite considering the two's respective attitude towards the crown prince. However, the truth was that even after all the insults Saphir threw his way, he was still the onlyone to not refer to him as 'Your Highness' and the only one that never viewed him as the Crown Prince and the future Emperor.

To be fair, Jade also sometimes joked and verbally sparred with him, but it just wasn't the same as Saphir's straightforward insult. And sometimes when Jade called him 'Your Highness', he could clearly hear the undertone of an insult, which was much worse than the 'pea brain' nickname Saphir gave him. Peony also enjoyed teasing the sensitive man very much, for he always get all flustered and riled up, something he never saw and thought Jade capable of.

_I don't want to brand him as a traitor to the whole empire... If I do that, not only will he be considered a criminal to the whole Malkuth population, but also Daath and Chesedonia. And once Kimlasca caught wind of it, they will surely find a way to get him, one of the most prized scientists and genius in the history of Malkuth and maybe even that of the whole Auldrant, to work for them. Well, maybe the citizens in Keterburg will still help him out, or just leave him alone..._

Feeling an impending headache once more, Peony shook his head to clear his thoughts on the fate awaiting his friend. After sighing once more, the crown prince decided that there was no way he could continue his work and went out for a walk to clear his head. Maybe he will also think of a solution for his lavender haired friend that didn't involve the words 'criminal' and 'traitor' in it.

* * *

_So this is the truth behind the destruction of Hod I have heard and read so much about. _Kratos thought as he skimmed through the session recording the last war fought between Kimlasca and Malkuth.

He was currently in the archives of the Malkuth Military Headquarters in Grand Chokmah, an archive where entry was forbidden for those without permission from the Emperor. It was nearly five hours since he sneaked into the archive after he decided that he would need to look through the hidden records if he was to get a clearer picture of what he was getting into.

He also went to the restricted archive in Baticul to look at their records. The only reason he skipped Daath at first was that he wasn't very familiar with the technology in this world back then and didn't want to risk getting caught. However, after his trip to Sheridan and Belkend, he was confident that he could evade the security system.

_These two nations are just like the two kingdoms of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant during the Kharlan War, warring against each other without caring the destruction they caused to the world. _Kratos concluded as he compared the two warring nations in Auldrant with the two kingdoms back in Aselia that started the war that exhausted his world's resources, leading to its decline four thousand years ago.

He thought back to the red haired boy and the brown haired girl that would one day lead the people of Kimlasca.

**** 42 days ago ****

About five hours after he rescued the Fabre kid and the princess of Kimlasca, he dropped the two exhausted kid in Chesedonia and made sure that Astor, the leader of Chesedonia, sent a message to Baticul to let them know of the location of the two Kimlascan nobles.

He then went to the merchant that asked him to retrieve his diamonds for him. After he pocketed the payment, which was quite handsome, he decided to go to the local weapon store.

His sword, the Last Fencer, was a good sword and he had no desire to replace it, but he didn't have much else to do with two kids following him since he left Astor's place. Besides, it was always a good idea to know more about the weaponry offered in a new place.

"Excuse me, sir, are those standing outside the store your kids?"

Kratos looked out the French windows at the front of the store and saw the two children he just rescued standing outside, staring at him. The girl ducked her head as soon as Kratos saw them, embarrassed that they were caught tailing, while the boy just continued to stare at Kratos.

Sighing, Kratos left the stores and faced the two kids. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you wait at the hotel Astor assigned to you?"

"As the princess and the future duke of Kimlasca, we haven't formally thanked you yet." The boy said.

Hearing her friend's words, the girl became braver and looked at Kratos. "Aren't you a mercenary? We could ask father to pay you if you-"

"If it's money you are talking about, leave it, I'm a traveling mercenary, too much money will only hinder me."

"But-"

"At least tell us your name." The boy saie, cutting off whatever the other wanted to say.

"My name is of no importance, but if you really want to know, it's Kratos Aurion."

"Right, Kratos, please understand that Natalia wasn't trying to belittle you when she suggested paying for you kindness." The princess' eyes widened once she realized what she had just unintentionally done.

Luke paused, pondering what he was going to say. Then, ignoring the embarrassed look on his friend, he continued.

"Thank you very much once again for saving our lives. In return, the two of us will come to your aid if it is ever needed." Luke said and gave a slight bow towards Kratos and, looking at her friend, Natalia quickly followed Luke's example and gave a slight bow.

_Spoken like a true gentleman, even though he is only at the age of five._ Kratos thought and nodded to let them know that the message had gotten across.

He started to turn away thinking that the conversation had ended when Luke called after him and told him that he had a job offer for him.

"I want to hire you as my swordsmanship teacher."

"Luke!" The girl exclaimed, surprised at her friend's request.

"I am afraid I have to decline, as I have told you, I am a traveling mercenary and don't want to spend too long at one place."

"Then at least teach me until either of us leave this place."

"Why do you want to get stronger?"

"To protect the ones dear to me."

_He has the same look as Lloyd and Mithos, even their answers are the same. _Seeing the fierce look of determination etched on the face of the noble boy, Kratos made his decision.

"Very well, I shall teach you until you leave Chesedonia."

"Thank you, Master." Luke said with a smile on his face and once again gave a slight bow towards Kratos, now his swordsmanship teacher.

The third day after Luke persuaded Kratos to teach him, soldiers from Baticul arrived to take the two aristocrats back. The soldiers were led by Duke Fabre and, taking advantage of his father's soft-heartedness, Luke, with the help of Natalia, convinced his father into letting him stay for a few more days to train under Kratos.

At hearing the story of the mercenary's rescue of the two kidnapped children, Duke Fabre expressed his deepest gratitude towards Kratos and was delighted to know how his son handled the situation. He was also grateful that the man who saved the two children agreed to teach his son swordplay. He could also see the change in that had taken place in both his son and the princess.

According to Duke Fabre, though Luke had his own teacher to teach him how to fight using a sword back home, he never had this _look _whenever he trained. In Duke Fabre's opinion, Luke was only training for the sake of bettering his skill, but never thought of how he could used it to protect the others, as he had heard from Kratos when he asked why he decided to teach him.

It was nearly a week later that Duke Fabre decided they had spent too much time away from their other lessons and brought the two aristocrats back to Baticul.

**** End Flashback ****

_I hope he could retain his attitude towards his people when he becomes the king and not turn into a power crazed man that lead his people into meaningless wars._

He returned the records he had been reading to its original position and started on others that might lead him to some interesting discoveries. The records he picked up was the one detailing the top secret military research, the same one that caused the destruction of Hod, Fomicry.

_At least they realized on their own how dangerous this technology is and banned this research._ He mused as he noticed the big red brand with the word 'banned' on the cover of the records.

He then noticed a very familiar name in the column of names of the participants of the Fomicry research. _Was it the same Saphir Wyon Neis that I escorted to Daath?_ Written at the top of the column were the names Jade Curtiss and Saphir Wyon Neis, who were the lead scientists of Fomicry.

Curious, Kratos put down the records on Fomicry and went to search for the records where the profile of all the registered scientists working in the Grand Chokmah Research Laboratory were held.

_Though I doubt there exists another Saphir Wyon Neis that is also a scientist._ He thought as he took out the folder that contained the profiles.

However, his enhanced hearing suddenly picked up footsteps nearing before he could find what he was looking for. He quickly returned everything to their original position and blended into the darkness behind one of the shelves.

A while later, a man entered the archives and headed towards one of the shelves located at the far back of the room. Then, without thinking, the man took out one of the folders, the same folder that Kratos took out, and leafed through the sheets in it.

That was when Kratos heard another set of footsteps heading straight towards the room.

* * *

"What do you think you are doing!?" The man that just burst through the door leading to the archive shouted.

"There is no need to shout, I am just doing what must be done sooner or later." The other man said and continued to leaf through the sheets of paper, unfazed by the other man's outburst.

"I told you I will think on it, not ask you to take any action!" The man exclaimed as he stomped towards the other man.

"There is no other solution, this has to be done."

"Then I, Peony Upala Malkuth, Crown Prince of the Malkuth Empire, order you to stop whatever you are doing this instance!"

Finally stopping what he was doing, the man turned towards the Crown Prince and frowned.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, a Crown Prince should never be governed by his personal emotion."

"Don't you think I know it? Stop it, Jade, I am not in the mood to argue with you about the responsibility as a Crown Prince now." Peony replied and glared at Jade, daring him to say anything more on the matter.

"Have you ever think of what would happen to him if you do that? Did you even _consider_ it? And don't forget that we are talking about Saphir here, the one who always comes back to us, to _you_, no matter how you treated him. What if he decides to come back after he vents off his anger? There will be no turning back once you go through with _it._"

"Yes, I admit it is tragic that we have to do that, but he should know what he was getting into the moment he decided to leave." Jade said with that eerily empty voice of his again.

Peony glared at Jade. "Just what did you tell him when you last confront him in Keterburg? Have you even apologized to him? Or did you just twist his words and point the fault at him like you always did?"

"That is not important. As I have said, what passed is past, no matter what we say and do now is not going change anything. He made his decision and you have to accept it."

Noticing how his friend evaded the question, he knew he guessed right. "Yes, it is important! All we need to do is find him and apologize to him and let him know how we _want _him to come back!"

"It is too late now, I already reported to the Emperor and he had made the decision, nothing you do now will be able to change it."

Hearing that, Peony widened his eyes as he looked at Jade with disbelief. "You did what?"

"You can check with the Emperor if you want, though I would advise against it." Jade answered, expressionless, and turned back to resume whatever he was doing before being stopped by the other.

Finding what he had been looking for, he took out the piece of paper from the file, turned around and, without looking at Peony, started walking away. He turned back at the doorway and said something to Peony before exiting the room. The room was resounded with a loud bang that was generated when the door to the archive room snapped shut after Jade's departure.

Peony finally snapped out of his stupor several minutes later and stumbled his way out of the archive room. _What happened to us, when did we become like this... something like... this mess..._ He thought back to the words Jade, his only remaining friend in Grand Chokmah, said before he left the room, the words that signified the end of their friendship with Saphir.

"_You have to understand that the next time we meet, he will be our enemy, one that we need to arrest or take down."_

* * *

Not long after the Crown Prince left the room, Kratos emerged from the darkness and contemplated on what he just overheard.

_So the lead scientist of Fomicry and the one I escorted to Daath are the same person. _He once again took out the file that was just put back to its original position by Jade.

_And that Jade is the other lead scientist of Fomicry._ He thought as he read the profile of Jade Curtiss in the file.

Kratos then closed the file and put it back, not wanting to waste his time to search for the profile of Saphir Wyon Neis as he was sure that what Jade just took away was his profile.

Thinking back to his encounter with the distraught scientist, he started putting the pieces together in his head.

_So Saphir fled to Keterburg after the ban of Fomicry, had an argument with Jade Curtiss, who was once a close friend of his, judging from the crown prince's tone, and the wound on his shoulder was also caused by him in an attempt to forcefully bring him back._

Kratos decided to store this piece of information in the back of his mind in case he went back to Daath and met Saphir again.

After that, Kratos decided he had wasted enough time and resumed his data gathering and pulled out the records on Fomicry from the shelf again.

* * *

**Author's note:**

I personally think that Peony valued his friendship with Saphir more than Jade valued his friendship with Saphir. And if you ask me, I like Peony much more than Jade, that's why part of this chapter is in his POV while Jade was sort of portrayed as a somewhat emotionless bastard. It isn't that I dislike Jade, I just like Saphir and Peony more when it came to the Keterburg crew.

Well, I admit that Jade may have also felt sorrow at Saphir's desertion, but his pride prevented him from showing it and admitting he was wrong. I also think that Jade's pride was the real reason that Saphir left Jade, later viewed him as his number one enemy and always pointed at him and while screaming how he betrayed him. Though there is also the reason of reviving his beloved Professor Nebilim. But really, whenever he appeared in the game, he always focused on Jade and it seems to me he only mentioned Nebilim to get Jade to come back to him and, maybe, admit that he was wrong.

These are just my personal opinion, you may disagree with me, but seeing as how I'm the one writing this fanfic...

_Uploaded on 30 June 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	9. Getting Deeper into the Plot

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; Character reading

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 8: Getting Deeper into the Plot**

Kratos stood on a hill located near the center of the continent Padamiya overlooking the city of Daath.

_I had been to all the major cities in Auldrant and except for some of the more amazing facts about this planet and the political state of the nations here, I cannot find anything related to Derris Kharlan's strange behaviour. _

After spending months looking up the technology offered in this world, Kratos found that not even the technology of flying was developed yet, much less one that involved venturing out into space or changing the course of a whole planet.

_It also seems that there isn't any danger lurking around in Derris Kharlan, so I presume I could rule out this as being an invasion. _

It was nearly one and a half month, in Auldrant's calendar system, which was about thirteen weeks, since he left Derris Kharlan. The angels reported to him the happenings in Derris Kharlan, which wasn't much, each and everyday he spent on Auldrant.

_If the Score has already predicted my presence, then most likely Derris Kharlan is also written in it. I am not in favour of finding out what precisely about Derris Kharlan is written in the Score through a random scorer, so the only option will be for me to check if there is any records archiving all the prophecies written in the Score._

Kratos decided that he will sneak into the Daathic Cathedral and Oracle Headquarters during the dead of night, when fewer people will be around. Noting that the sun only just started to set, he decided to rest and wait for the time to enter the city.

Although he did not need to eat and sleep, and that he had a much larger reserve of energy in his body than normal human, all courtesy to the Cruxis Crystal, he still had to rest about once every week to replenish his energy, or twice per week in the most ideal case.

After looking for a suitable place to set up camp, he set up a fire to fend off wandering animals and monsters and sat down on the ground. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body and went into a semi-conscious state, a state that allowed him to replenish his energy at a very fast rate.

It was about five hours later, when most of the light in Daath could be seen extinguished from his current location, that Kratos got up from his sitting position, put out the fire and started descending the hill.

While he was making his way to Daath, his thought drifted back to the forbidden research he had read about back in Grand Chokmah.

When he first read about the technology of replicating matters, be it living beings or dead objects, he actually thought that this technology was quite useful, that was if you omitted the occasional side effects it caused on the subject being replicated and that the artificially produced living being had their own souls and other defects.

It was also very true that if the means of replicating living being was given to the wrong people, chaos would be ensued. He could see from the papers describing the Fomicry research alone the possibilities that could be made if people were to use it for reviving the dead, though it would still be fruitless considering how the replica had their own souls. At this thought, he couldn't help but think of his former student that had fallen from a hero to a tyrant all because of the wish to resurrect his dead sister.

_I wonder what would happen to Sylvarant and Tethe'alla if Mithos got wind of this research. It would make reviving Martel so much easier, and Mithos had Martel's soul trapped in the Cruxis Crystal already. It would just be a matter of transferring the soul in the Cruxis Crystal into the replica. If that's the case, then we wouldn't have to fuse Martel's soul with the Great Seed of the Kharlan Tree, making it possible to resurrect Martel without causing the Great Seed to disappear, thus ending the world. Though there is also the problem of another soul already existed in the replica the moment she was created. Mithos would care less considering what he did to the Chosens of Regeneration. It would have also caused less bloodshed and sacrifice._

Realizing what he was thinking about, Kratos shook his head to clear his thoughts.

_Since when did I start thinking about the what-ifs. I guess I really am too old, or maybe life on Derris Kharlan without anyone intelligent to talk to had taken a far greater impact on me than I think. Besides, the dead should never be resurrected, it is against the nature and will only cause chaos. I should know well enough what the thought of reviving a dead person would do to people._

He sighed and continued his way to the Daath.

As he passed the bridge leading to Daath, he remembered that there was another piece of information he had been curious about when he first read about this planet that still eluded him.

_If I couldn't find anything about Derris Kharlan in Daath, and if there is no information about this second layer I learned of before coming to Auldrant, then I will have no choice but to go back to Derris Kharlan and look for another way to get to this second layer and pray that I would be able to find out what I need to know there._

* * *

Standing on the rooftop of a building near the cathedral, Kratos, with his enhanced eyesight that allowed him to see clearly even in the dead of night, saw that there were four Oracle Knights patrolling around and two more guarding the entrance. He knew from his last time in Daath that the soldiers would be relieved of their duties by other soldiers every fifteen minutes.

He could easily knock out the two guarding the entrance and even the four patrolling around if needed, but they would learn of the presence of an intruder after fifteen minutes or so and that would defeat the purpose of stealth, he also wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

_Maybe I could use the trick I used to get into the castle of Baticul._

The castle of Baticul was very well guarded, and unlike the abandoned factory, even the sewer that he believed would lead to the interior of the castle was guarded. That left Kratos with no choice but to use his mana wings to take off to the sky above to look for an alternative route to enter the castle.

Looking up at the sky, he saw that thick clouds were approaching from the east and the moon would be obscured by them in about half an hour. Without the illumination of the moon, it would be difficult, bordering impossible, for the guards to notice him even if they were to look up.

Not wanting to waste more mana than necessary mindlessly flying around, he scanned over the upper part of the cathedral, looking for air vents or similar places for him to break into the cathedral. He searched for about a minute and found a large enough air vent near the top of the cathedral.

He waited another forty minutes and when he was sure it was so dark that even his blue mana wings wouldn't be noticeable to normal human eyesight, he called out his wings and took off to the sky and headed straight to the air vent.

Once he reached the air vent, with his angelic strength, he easily took off the ventilation blinds and slipped into the air duct. He put the blinds back to its original position and after making sure that the blinds wouldn't bulge even if there were strong gusts, he started climbing further into the air duct.

As he climbed through the duct, he picked up voices talking, snoring and footsteps. He could see some people chatting, some sleeping in their rooms and soldiers patrolling the corridors when he looked down from some of the ventilation blinds.

After several minutes, he reached an intersection and carefully chose the direction where less noise came from to avoid being noticed by people that were still awake. After several more minutes, he reached a room where no one was inside, he then removed the blinds and dropped into the room.

Taking in his surrounding, Kratos noticed that he was in a storeroom. He listened for footsteps outside and stepped out of the room when he found none near his current position.

_Now to look for a way to get to their archive. _He thought as he glanced around the corridor he was in.

During his last stay in Daath, he had listened to gossips here and there and knew that the archive of the Order of Lorelei was located underground.

_First I will have to look for a way to get to the lower floors._ He closed his eyes and concentrated on his hearing to try to pick up footsteps either ascending or descending.

He found what he was looking for a few seconds later and started towards the direction where footsteps descending could be heard.

It took Kratos nearly an hour's time to finally get to the lowest level of the Daathic Cathedral and located the archive, all the while hiding from the Oracle Knights patrolling around the Cathedral.

He came out of his hiding spot behind a statue in the corridor and entered the archive after he made sure that the patrolling soldier left and no one was in the vicinity. Once he entered the archive, he felt a strange presence coming from the back of the room and went to check on it.

_So there is a secret passage behind this bookshelf?_ Kratos mused as he stood before a bookshelf at the back of the room and noticed that the strange presence coming from behind the bookshelf.

Feeling around the bookshelf and those adjacent to it, Kratos found a hidden ledge in the form of a book and pulled on it.

The bookshelf moved revealed a set of staircase leading further down. Deciding that he could trace his way back and read the records in the archive later, he started to descend the hidden staircase.

Finally, after half an hour or so walking along the darkened pathway, Kratos saw light at the end of the tunnel. Upon exiting the tunnel, he found himself on the edge of a walkway in a very large cavern. He saw that the air here was slightly distorted and when he looked down he found that he was inside a volcano and the distorted air was due to the heat.

_If my guess is correct, then I am currently in Mt. Zaleho. I wonder what is so valuable that the Order of Lorelei hide in a volcano. The technology here also doesn't match the technology in the rest of this world. Is this the technology from the Dawn Age? _Kratos thought as he walked on the seemingly translucent pathway that spiralled down to the heart of the volcano.

As he neared the bottom of the volcano, the strange presence he felt grew stronger and he saw a large piece of blue stone sitting on the platform connecting to the end of the pathway.

He knelt down beside the stone and started to investigate it. As soon as his hand touched the stone, the stone glowed a neon blue and he felt a strange power entering his body from the stone to him and quickly withdrew his hand.

A feeling of warmth started spreading in his body, which he thought was strange, considering his inability to feel temperature. However, despite not even remembering what warm _felt _like, he knew that what he was feeling was warmth.

The feeling was gone a moment later and the glow on the stone faded, returning it to its original blue colour. After making sure that nothing strange other than the feeling of warmth happened to him, he looked at the stone again and was surprised when he saw words etched on the stone where there was none when he previously looked at it.

ND 2000

In Kimlasca shall be born the scion of Lorelei's power. He will be a boy of royal blood with red hair. He shall be called "The Light of the Sacred Flame" and he will lead Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to new prosperity.

_The Score? Is this the sixth fonstone? How come I can read from it? _Although thoroughly confused at his ability to read the Score, Kratos decided to read the rest of the Score and think about this new found power later.

ND 2002

The One who would Seize Glory shall destroy the island upon which he was born, a land by the name of Hod. War shall thereafter persist between Kimlasca and Malkuth for a full cycle of the seasons.

_So it is true that the destruction of Hod is also predicted by the Score. _He suddenly felt disgusted at the Order of Lorelei, even more so than before, that they didn't do anything to stop the destruction of a whole island full of people even thoughthey knew of it beforehand.

_Wait, didn't I see the name "the One who would Seize Glory" in the scorer's diary back in the bandits' lair? _Deciding to worry about it later, he continued reading the Score.

ND 2018

The young scion of Lorelei's power shall bring his people to the miner's city. There, the youth will turn power to calamity and be as a weapon to Kimlasca, destroying himself and the city. Thereafter, the land of Rugnica will be enveloped in war, and Malkuth shall-

He stopped reading as he heard footsteps approaching and hid himself behind a large boulder.

Several minutes later a brown haired man stood next to the blue stone.

"There is no need to hide, please come out, Kratos Aurion, the Dawn of Strength, the one who is from a far away place." The man called out after a moment of silence.

"Who are you?" Kratos replied after another moments of silence passed.

"I am Fon Master Evenos of the Order of Lorelei."

At the man's answer, Kratos grimaced as he concluded that the Score yet again precisely predicted his current predicament. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and slowly came out of his hiding place and saw a brown haired elderly man giving him a grandfatherly smile.

The man was dressed in a blue robe and wore a necklace that bore the symbol of the Order of Lorelei. Held in his right hand was a golden staff and the end of it was also shaped in the symbol of the Order. The man looked to be in his early fifties, if not for the streaks of grey and white that could be seen amidst his brow hair giving away his old age.

"Greetings." Evenos said.

"..."

"Not a very talkative person, are you?"

"..." Kratos just continued staring at the man in front of him.

"I see that you have read the Score and are aware of the coming war between Kimlasca and Malkuth."

"Is there a reason you placed the fragment of the fonstone with the information of the war here?"

"I have only done what is required of me." Evenos answered.

_The Score... shouldn't have asked such an obvious question. _Kratos thought as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the mans' reply.

"Then why did I, someone not of this planet, gained the ability to read the Score?"

"That will be explained in due time. Don't you have other questions about the Score you want to ask me?"

Realising he wouldn't get his answer soon, Kratos proceeded to ask Evenos another question that had been on his mind ever since he read about the war written in the Score.

"Are you going to let the war break out, or even encourage it, to fulfill the Score?"

"I cannot answer you that."

"What do you mean by that? Do you realise how many lives will be lost, how many people will become homeless and the damage it will cause to this world if the war were to start?" The glare Kratos had on the man intensified as he questioned, his voice so cold that despite the heat of the volcano, Evenos shivered at his icy tone.

"Yes, I do understand how grave the damage it causes this world and the people in it is. However, there is nothing that can be done, at least not by me." He calmly replied after regaining his composure.

Kratos remained silent as he caught on to the hidden meaning behind his words and decided to let the Fon Master explain.

Seeing that Kratos was not going to say anything soon, Evenos continued, "I know that you are not of this planet. I am glad to see that you care for Auldrant and the people in it even though you just arrived here. I am also glad to hear that you aren't very supportive of the Score, though that is to be expected considering you have never heard of it before you came here."

He paused and took in Kratos' reaction. However, all he saw was an expressionless man standing before him.

Slightly disappointed at the unfazed look on the red headed man, Evenos continued, "You probably think that the people in this world are all living a caged life because of the Score. I admit that the Score is like a chain that binds the people on this planet. Although the meeting between the two of us here may have been written in the Score, the reason I came here is not to fulfil it. I have one request to make of you, please hear me out."

Kratos remained expressionless, not wanting the other man to know what he was thinking about. After several minutes of contemplation, he finally nodded at Evenos, signalling the man to state his request.

"I gather you have heard about the seventh and final fonstone that was missing and how some of the higher-ups in the Order of Lorelei, especially Grand Maestro Mohs, are desperately searching for it."

"Yes, I have heard the rumour that the sixth fonstone only predicted up to ND 2018, which is a mere thirteen years from now."

"However, the truth is that the seventh fonstone have only been missing recently, since the Hod War."

Realisation dawned on Kratos. "The seventh fonstone was in Hod, and not even Mohs has a high enough position to know about it, so that means you, the Fon Master, alone hold this information."

"To be exact, it is the Fon Master and the Highest Watcher. I will come to the part about the Watchers later." Evenos said as he noticed Kratos' questioning look at hearing the word 'Watcher'.

"There is a reason that only the Fon Master, the Highest Watcher and those guarding it know of the seventh fonstone. The knowledge written on it will only cause panic if it were to be read to the public."

"I take it that contrary to popular belief, the Score written in the last fonstone foretold a terrible future."

Evenos nodded at Kratos' deduction and continued, "That is correct. When Yulia chanted the prophecy and learned of the calamity that will befall this world, she decided that the location of the seventh fonstone, the stone where the Score of the end of Auldrant is written, will remain hidden. Only the Highest Watcher and the Fon Master know the location of the final fonstone and the descendants of Yulia are to guard over it."

"Are you saying that the lost of the seventh fonstone along with Hod is also written in the Score?"

"Yes and no, it is because Yulia had foreseen the destruction of Hod that she decided to place the fonstone there, so that it could be forever lost to the world."

"You are saying that despite being the creator of the fonstone, what Yulia really wanted was for the people to not rely on the Score, maybe even to use it to help prevent the tragedies written there. The reason that she created the fonstone was that without the guidance of the Score, people living in the era of the Dawn Age would war against each other until they caused grave damage to the world, even destroying the whole world. However, people started depending on the Score more and more and it is too late for them to live a life separated from the Score now." Kratos drawled as he remembered the records on the Fonic War about two thousand years ago.

"I see you have done some research on the history of this planet. Yes, that was the original purpose of the Score. The sad thing is that Yulia also predicted how dependent people will be on the Score, but apart from praying that someone in the future will be able to break the world from the hold of the Score, there was nothing she could do. Later, with the help of Lorelei, the Aggregate Sentience of the Seventh Fonon, the Fonon of Sound, who had a pact with Yulia, she made a plan to have the world walk a different path from the Score. A plan that could only be started now, when the chosen ones of Lorelei are gathered."

"The Light of the Sacred Flame and the One who would Seize Glory." Kratos said, recalling the names he just read from the Score.

"Also the Remnant of the Sacred Flame and the Dawn of Strength." Evenos added.

"Excuse me?" Kratos asked and blinked, surprised at Evenos' words.

Seeing the look of surprise on the stoic man, Evenos smiled.

"I need you to accompany me to Aramis Spring and from there, we will go to Yulia City, the Watchers' Home, where all will be explained."

Kratos then snapped out of his stupor and regained his composure as he noticed the look of mirth on the face of the elderly Fon Master.

"I take it that this Yulia City is in the lower layer of Auldrant, considering that it isn't in any of the maps."

"Yes, you really have done your homework on this world." And with that, Evenos turned around and started walking towards the exit of the volcano.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Is there any description about Fon Master Evenos in the manga, anime and game of TOA? I couldn't find any and that's why I gave him my own description... If there is indeed official description about him, then sorry about giving him a new appearance and making him OOC...

And about the Highest Watcher, I can't seem to find any title for Teodoro except for the Mayor of Yulia City, so I give him that title. If he has another official title, you can let me know and I will change it.

Thanks RedHerring1412 for your review! I am glad you find this story interesting. And yeah, about Jade, I agree that he improved as the game progress, but not before the game. This story started 13 years before the game events, so it's only normal that he acts like a emotionless and very prideful bastard.

_Uploaded on 3 July 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	10. The True Mastermind

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 9: The True Mastermind**

The Float Project, the system through which the entire surface of the world was raised into the sky using the Sephiroth Trees as pillars, was put into effect roughly two thousand years ago, in order to keep the miasma confined below the surface. However, many people were left behind in the Qliphoth, also dubbed as the 'Lower Shell', to suffer from the miasma.

Yulia City, named after Yulia Jue, the rescuer of the people from the miasma, was the only city in Qliphoth. A barrier was erected at the border of the city to keep the poison gas from entering the city and affecting the health of the people living in it.

Also known as the Watchers' Home, Yulia City was a part of the Order of Lorelei, though its existence was only known to a few. The job of the watcher was to observe and record the events in the Outer Lands and to make sure that nothing deviated from the Score.

_It seems Evenos is taking his time._ Teodoro Grants, the Mayor of Yulia City and the Highest Watcher, thought as he stood before the glass panel in the conference room overlooking the whole city, his hands clasped behind his back.

_I wonder what our guest's reception will be? … is it really a good idea to involve a being that is not of this world? _Teodoro mused.

He turned away from the glass panel and walked back to his own seat in the conference room. He sat down and let his gaze fall onto the book sitting on the table before him.

Although the book was very old, it was very well kept and apart from the pages that was starting to yellow, nothing gave away the old age of the book. The book had no title and it didn't have any special feature to distinguish it from other books. It looked like a normal notebook, the kind that you wouldn't remember it after you took your eyes off it.

However, there was a reason to the book's plain appearance. It was to avoid people thinking it as something valuable and took a peek at its content. The only reason Teodoro knew that this book was in fact anything but normal was that this book was treated as a secret heirloom that was passed down from the previous Mayor to the next Mayor of Yulia City.

_I think I will make sure that nothing goes wrong one final time while waiting for them to arrive. _He thought and picked up the book.

Carefully turning over the front cover, Teodoro started skimming through its contents for the thirtieth time or so since the book was passed to him from his predecessor when he became the Mayor of Yulia City and the Highest Watcher of the Order of Lorelei.

* * *

It was three hours before dawn when Kratos and Evenos left Mt. Zaleho. Despite his appearance, Evenos was already in his sixties and long distance travel was never an old man's forte, much less travelling in the dead of night, when most people were sleeping.

It would be much better if they were to travel after the elderly Fon Master rested. Kratos had suggested Evenos to rest for the night and meet up at the entrance of Daath later or to set up camp somewhere so that he could rest.

However, Evenos stated that since this little trip of his was a secret, he couldn't afford to meet up with Kratos later for fear of being discovered by his Fon Master Guardian or members of the Order. He also said that they need to make haste and that if he was found to be missing, it would cause panic in the Order and search parties would be sent after him.

"Then how about this: either we set up camp here and let you rest as our progress would be slower if you insist to go on like this, or I carry you on my back."

Feeling slightly intimidated by the no-nonsense look on Kratos, Evenos finally decided to take a small nap before continuing their journey.

They found a place to set up camp and Kratos told Evenos that he would wake him up at dawn, which would be about two and a half hours later.

_I wonder what this world has in stall for me? _Kratos mused as he stared at the sleeping form of Evenos before him.

_At least I don't have to blindly search for clues relating to Derris Kharlan anymore. _He thought and looked up at the stars.

_Judging from our previous conversation, it seems that Derris Kharlan, no, I am being dragged here through means that still eludes me to help with their plan. A plan similar to the Journey of Regeneration, where the Chosen embarks on a journey to break the curse of either Sylvarant or Tethe'alla. _He started reminiscing the last Journey of Regeneration he participated back in his home world.

_Except that this time there won't be another organisation like Cruxis behind all this and worlds vying with each other for energy to sustain life, but a prophecy that people are too reliant on, even to the point of being manipulated by it and becoming puppet with no free will. _

His reminiscing was brought to an abrupt stop as a small beep was emitted from one of the hidden pockets in his garb. He walked away from Evenos and fished out the wing pack that was emitting the noise. He then took out a small radio unit from the wing pack.

"Report." He said to the unit after switching it on.

"Yes. Lord Kratos." Replied a monotonous voice from the radio. "Unit A patrolling the lower realms of Derris Kharlan was attacked by the monsters resided there, two angels sustained damage and are recovering. Unit B patrolling Welgaia reported that nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Unit C patrolling the castle of Vinheim also reported that nothing out of the ordinary occurred. The calculations by the main computer have not differed from twenty four hours ago and Derris Kharlan is still set on its orbiting path."

_Although I still don't know how, I do know why Derris Kharlan is trapped here. I might as well call off the patrols, especially the one in the lower realm. I could also reduce the frequency of hearing the status report of Derris Kharlan now that I have a brief idea of what is going on. _He thought and glanced over in Eveno's direction. _Or soon anyway._

"Call back the units, there is no need to patrol around anymore. Unless something significant like the death of one of the angels occur, you only need to report to me the calculations of the core system. I would also like to hear the status report of Derris Kharlan once a week instead of everyday from now on."

"Yes. Lord Kratos."

"Good. You are dismissed." And with that, Kratos turned off the radio unit and put it back into the wing pack.

He went back to his previous position and waited for dawn to come. After about an hour, he woke Evenos up.

"I think it is time that I explain to you about the Watchers of the Order of Lorelei." The Fon Master said after they broke camp and resumed their trip.

Evenos then told Kratos of the Float Project, the project proposed by Yulia, that was written in the Score, Yulia City, the city founded by Yulia, that consisted of people that were left behind in the Qliphoth and the Watchers that resided in Yulia City.

By the time they reached Aramis Spring, Evenos had also informed Kratos of the House of Fende that was founded by Yulia and her husband Freyr Albert, who was the first Fon Master, and the House of Gardios that was founded Albert's half-brother Walter Sigmund, who was the first Fon Master Guardian.

He also told him how the House of Fende was to become the guardians of the seventh fonstone and the House of Gardios guardians of the House of Fende, and how the positions of both families were reversed in order to veil the truth about both families' histories, leading to the Fende family becoming the protectors of the Gardios nobility of Hod.

"There is a Fonic circle used for transport, called the Yulia Road, in the deepest part of Aramis Spring. Yulia Road is connected to Yulia City. We will be using it to go to Yulia City." Evenos explained as they entered the cavern in Aramis Spring.

"I think I have covered enough background material on Yulia's legacy, now let me tell you about the planet's memory. Tell me, how much do you know about the origin of the Score?"

"I know that the Score is a result of Yulia using the Seventh Fonons as a means of reading the planet's memory to determine the future."

Evenos nodded at Kratos' answer and proceeded to further elaborate on the topic.

"The planet's memory, made up of memory particles, is the record of the entire life of the planet, from its creation through to its destruction. All lives in Auldrant are destined to follow the planet's memory."

"You are telling me that no matter what people do to resist the Score, the planet will retain its own memories and will proceed accordingly and they will eventually arrive at the same conclusion as the planet's memory."

"That is correct. Your analysing skill yet again amazes me. To think someone as young as you, who had only started studying about our world recently, could deduce the truth in such a short amount of time. I am glad you are one of the chosen ones of Lorelei."

_So not even the Score, or should I say the planet's memory, know all the secrets about me. I can see why they require the assistance of an outsider._ Kratos thought, feeling slightly relieved at hearing Evenos' choice of word to describe him.

* * *

Teodoro had just finished rereading the book when the door to the conference room creaked open. He closed the book before standing up and regarded his guests.

One of them was a man with white and grey streaked brown hair in a blue robe, he carried a golden staff which was shaped like a tuning fork at one end. He also had a golden necklace that bore a symbol with the same shape as his staff's end.

The other one was a man with wild red hair in a purple outfit and matching gloves and boots. He wore two belts, also with matching colour, over his suit. A sword in its sheath were strapped at his waist.

"Greetings, Teodoro, and our guest here is Kratos Aurion." Evenos called out as he entered the conference room.

The red headed man nodded towards him.

"Greetings, Evenos and Kratos, visitor from another world." Teodoro said as he nodded towards the two men before him.

"Please take a seat." He gestured the two seats nearest to him.

Teodoro sat down once the other two men had taken their seat.

"So where to start?" Teodoro asked as he clasped his hands before him on the table.

"You could start by telling me how you managed to lock a planet's course to circle Auldrant."

"I am afraid I couldn't answer you that, at least not in technical terms. From my understanding, it has something to do with the Planetary Storm, which I assume you have read about before." Teodoro paused at that.

Kratos nodded. "The particles that were emitted from the core and circulate around Auldrant's outer atmosphere before returning to the core of this planet."

"Lorelei controls the activity of the Planetary Storm, I presume he did something to its circulation, thus changing the course of your planet."

"If memory serves, you also asked me before about the ability of being able to read the Score you gained." Evenos said after Teodoro finished his explanation.

"I told you all would be explained in due time. However, similar to your previous question, this is the doing of Lorelei. Since neither of us is a scientist or an expert Fonist, we won't be able to fully answer this question too. I have once heard about creating a pseudo Seventh Fonist by injecting Seventh Fonon into a person, but then it might cause contamination and mutation to both their body and mind."

"If anything were to happen to you, it would have already happened. I also don't think Lorelei would just do something like that if he knows it will cause you any permanent damage." Evenos added when he saw the slightly worried look on Kratos.

"So I would need to confront Lorelei, a scientist or someone who exiles in Fonic Artes if I am to get my answers." Kratos paused and pondered his next words.

"From what I gather, the reason I am here is because you need someone who is not limited by the planet's memory to overthrow the Score and protect the world from the terrible fate as foretold by it."

"That is correct." Teodoro answered and held up the book he had been reading while waiting for the arrival of Kratos and Evenos.

"This book here was written by Yulia Jue a few years after she carved the Score onto the seven fonstones." He paused and glanced over at Evenos.

"I have covered all the basic information with him." Evenos said when he noticed Teodoro's gaze on him.

He nodded at Evenos' words and continued, "In this book are Yulia's theory about deviating from the planet's memory and a draft plan to steer the people away from the Score. Due to its content, the existence of it is only known to the Fon Master and the Highest Watcher, same as the seventh fonstone."

"As I have told you back in the volcano, other than you, the other chosens of Lorelei are Light of the Sacred Flame, The One Who Would Seize Glory and the Remnant of the Sacred Flame. The four of you, each following a different path, will be the keys to free the world of the Score. Do you know-"

"Wait, Evenos, there is something we need to clarify first." Teodoro said, cutting off the Fon Master.

The Mayor then closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled deeply. He opened his eyes and held his gaze with Kratos.

"Before we continue this conversation, we would like to hear your decision. Will you, someone not of this world, assist us to prevent the crisis that would befall Auldrant if we let the people here continue to live under the Score's hold?"

Silence reigned over the room after Teodoro finished his question. After a while, Kratos broke his gaze with Teodoro and looked at Evenos. He then closed his eyes to think about it.

_So this time I would become a chosen one that will help in breaking the curse of this world. How ironic, I, the one that protected the Chosens during the Journey of Regenerations and guided them to their death in my own world, am to become the chosen one that leads the people to peace in another world. _He thought as he remembered the time when he went undercover as a mercenary escorting the Chosens of both Tethe'alla and Sylvarant.

_I had thought that drifting in the darkness of space with the other lifeless angels, victims of Mithos' project of the age of lifeless being, would be my only penance. I bet both Lloyd and Anna would be glad to know that after all that had happened, I get to have another chance to help out others. A chance to redeem myself through rescuing people... no, this is not only a penance, this means much more to me than that. This is..._

He paused his thought and opened his eyes. With a fierce look of determination in his eyes, he told the two elderly men of his decision.

"I was once a knight that took pride in protecting the others, not only those that resided in my country, but all that were in need of help."

_This is a chance for me to do what I have always wanted to do when I left the Kingdom of Tethe'alla with Mithos and Martel to end the Kharlan War all those years ago. _

"Although I am no longer a knight nor a resident of this world, I would gladly offer my help..." _No, even before I became a full-fledged knight, it has always been my dream..._ "to create a better future for all."

Evenos smiled widely at Kratos' declaration while Teodoro offered him a slight smile.

"Thank you, warrior from another world." Teodoro said and inclined his head slightly towards Kratos.

"You only recently arrived in this world, you don't have the responsibility to help, yet you, a stranger to this world, choose to extend a helping hand to this world and all those that reside in it. Thank you, Kratos Aurion, Dawn of Strength, you are a true gentleman that is worthy of the title of knighthood. Your help is much appreciated." Evenos said. He followed Teodoro's example and tipped his head towards Kratos.

"Now, where was I? ...ah yes, do you know the truth behind Hod's destruction? And the kind of soldiers that Malkuth employed during the last war?" Evenos asked.

"An artificial hyperresonance generated by a Fomicry subject, The One Who Would Seize Glory, if my citation of the Score was correct. I heard that Malkuth used replicas for military purpose." Kratos answered.

"That is correct. However, although Hod's destruction and Fomicry are written in the Score, we couldn't find any information on the replicas created." Evenos said.

"You want to use Fomicry to create replicas that aren't bound by the Score." Kratos deduced.

"Yes and no. The replicas created using Fomicry are not foretold by the Score. Therefore, even Yulia didn't know the details of it. I told you that this book only contains theories and a draft plan. The plan is very crude, in fact, details of the plan are near non-existent. We only know bits and pieces about it." Teodoro said.

"What we do know is that one of the chosen ones we mentioned, Remnant of the Sacred Flame, is not recorded in any of the fonstones. We think that he or she maybe a replica created using Fomicry. Asch translates to Remnant of the Sacred Flame in Ancient Ispanian language. Judging from the name, we are guessing that he may be a replica of Luke, Light of the Sacred Flame." Evenos said.

"If Asch is indeed Luke's replica, then that makes him outside the binding of the Score. If that is the case, Luke, someone that is within the Score's prediction, is required for this plan. What of The One Who Would Seize Glory?" Kratos asked after thinking through the information he was told.

"We are not sure of his role in it yet. However, Evenos think that Vandesdelca, which translates to The One Who Would Seize Glory, would be the one to lead the plan to erase the Score. He said that Vandesdelca's hatred towards the Score that foretold the destruction of Hod by his own hands is going to be the trigger." There was a tinge of sadness in Teodoro's tone as he informed Kratos of Evenos' deduction.

Noticing the Mayor's sorrow, Evenos decided that was is time to end this conversation.

"It is getting late and although I told my Fon Master Guardian that I would be working all day and don't want to be disturbed, it will only be a matter of time before someone noticed that I am gone. We would have to continue this discussion at a later time." Evenos said and started to get up from his seat.

Then, turning his head towards Kratos, he said, "I trust you will be escorting me back to Daath."

Kratos nodded and also got up from his seat.

"Wait." Teodoro took out a book from his pocket and gave it to Kratos. "Take this with you. It is a copy of Yulia's notebook, I have also written down the Planet Score in the seventh fonstone in it. Please read through it when you have time."

Kratos accepted the book, gave one final nod towards Teodoro and left the conference room after Evenos.

* * *

"What will you do from now on?" Evenos asked Kratos. They were at the entrance of the secret pathway that connected Mt. Zaleho to Daathic Cathedral.

"There are still a lot of things in this world that I don't know yet. However, for the time being, I think the most important thing for me to do is read through it so I could have a better understanding of what is required of me." Kratos replied and held up the book Teodoro gave him.

"I also haven't had the time to check out the archives of the Order of Lorelei yet, I think I shall rectify it after I finished this book."

He then glanced at the Fon Master. "Unless you reckon that I won't find anything useful there, after all the information you have already given me."

"No, have a look at the records there by all means. I am sure you will find something interesting." Evenos said.

"Which is?"

"I am not implying anything. Even I myself haven't had the time to read through all the records there. I just think that you might find something useful."

"Very well, I shall check it out when I have the time." Kratos turned around and started walking away from the Fon Master.

"Wait, if you don't have other things to do after that, I have a suggestion for you." Evenos called after the retreating back of Kratos.

Kratos stopped walking and turned his head slightly towards Evenos' direction.

"You could become an Oracle Knight in Daath."

Kratos thought about it for a while. "Is there any specific reason for me to do so?"

"The One Who Would Seize Glory, Vandesdelca Musto Fende, is Teodoro's adopted grandson. He was one of the protectors of the seventh fonstone in Hod before its destruction. After the destruction of Hod, he joined the Order of Lorelei and became an Oracle Knight."

"Someone who hated the Score would never willingly join the organisation that works towards its fulfilment, unless they are planning something else. That's why you think that he would be the one to start the plan to overturn the Score, and you want me to keep an eye on him." Kratos said.

"Yes."

"I will see what I could do." Kratos said, ending the conversation, and left Evenos.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This chapter was hard to write... Anyway, I have finally got all the explanations out! Well, not all, but the remaining ones would be easier to write, or so I hope...

I have uploaded a one-shot prequel to this fic, A Hollow Life, it is set 2 years before FI and is about Kratos and Yuan's final conversation, the reason I said it's a prequel and not just a normal TOS fanfic is because there will be some parts of this story in the chapters to come that will be explained in this prequel.

Thanks DeathhunterAshi again for your review! Though there is something I need to clarify: Evenos is the Fon Master before the original Ion, not the original of the replica Ion Luke and the others met in the game.

_Uploaded on 7 July 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	11. Things He could Do

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; Character reading; _Character remembering a past event/conversation_

- Loreleiday is equivalent to Saturday and Remday is equivalent to Monday.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 10: Things He Could Do**

"Have you heard of the new guy?" A female voice asked.

"Which one are you talking about? We had many new recruits these past few months." A male voice said.

"Who else do you think I am talking about? Of course I am talking about _him."_

"Wait, wha-_"_

"For Lorelei's sake! How could you not know about him?_"_

"Stop being stupid, there are many he's even in the girl's gossip. Although I know who you are talking about, you shouldn't expect a guy to get which he you are referring to without giving any other information." Another female voice said.

_"Right,_ I am talking about the one that is always burying his nose in books." The first female voice said.

"Ah, you are talking about him, of course I have. I bet everyone working here has heard of him. What of it?"

"Do you know him?"

"Well, I know of him, but I don't think anyone knows him."

"Why?"

"As you have said just now, he is always burying his nose in books, well, not that always, but other times he would either be scribbling furiously in his notebooks or locking himself up in his room. Do you think it is possible for others to get to know him?"

"But there's gotta be someone who knows him and talks to him! How else would he be able to get promoted in such a short amount of time?"

"I heard that he's working in the research department, so I think you would have a better chance asking the personnel working there. The only time I have seen him interacting with others was when Van went into his room. "

"You mean Van Grants? The one who has been rising up in position since that Largo guy came?"

"Who else but him? How many Van do you think we have here?"

"Point taken."

"So why are the two of you asking about him? If you are just curious about his fast promotions through the rank, why don't you ask about Largo? Although he became an Oracle Knight about half an year before him, he was also promoted soon after he joined the Order."

"That's why you never had a girlfriend, you don't understand girls at all." A new male voice said, joining the conversation.

"Shut it, what do you know anyway?" The first voice said, irritated at the mention of him not having a lover.

"More than you apparently. Anyone worthy of being included into the girl's gossip are the ones they think interesting and potential target."

"Wait, wha- you mean you are interested in him!" The owner of the second voice turned towards the female participants in this conversation and exclaimed.

"What's the problem with it?" The first voice asked, irritation apparent in her tone.

"Yes, what's the problem with it? He looks cuter than most other guys and although both he and Largo had been rising through ranks, unlike Largo, he has an air of mystery." The third voice supplied.

"I don't think we should waste anymore time talking with this moron here, let's go." The first voice said and began dragging the other girl away.

"Wha- I don't get them! I mean, I understand the part about the mysterious aura, but how could they think he's cute?" The second voice said while pointing frustratingly at the direction the girls walked away to after they left hearing range.

"It can't be helped, most girls think that being feminine is cute." The owner of the fourth voice shrugged at the other man's shocked expression. "And that's why I said you don't understand girls at all. Anyway, let's go, the reason I am here is to fetch you to Maestro Tritheim's office." He then dragged the other man towards the Maestro's office.

_So Van was rising through the ranks. I presume whatever plan he cooked up requires a position with much power to carry out. _Kratos mused from his position perched on a branch of a very tall tree overlooking the now empty courtyard.

It was nearly two weeks since the discussion in Yulia City. True to his word, the first thing Kratos did after he left Mt. Zaleho was to find a secluded location in the forest and read the book Teodoro gave him.

As Kratos read through the notes, he found that there were many terms and past events described in it that were unbeknown to him.

Evenos had only covered the basic stuff when he explained things to him, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, he decided to do some more research and expand his knowledge on this planet's history.

He took the elderly Fon Master's advice and sneaked into the archive of the Order of Lorelei, which, with the secret passageway from Mt. Zaleho, was much easier than his first time infiltrating the Daathic Cathedral, to read through their records.

However, even the archive there didn't cover enough background materials for Kratos to fully grasp the concepts explained in Yulia's note. He found that none of the records there had information on Qliphoth and Yulia City, and certainly not the Floating Project.

Though he couldn't find anything useful for this planet's true history, as predicted by Evenos, he did find something interesting when he looked at the profile of Van Grants, whose real name was Vandesdelca Musto Fende, or The One Who Would Seize Glory in Ancient Ispanian language.

**** Flashback ****

_So this is Van. _Kratos thought as he stared at the photo of Van in his profile.

_The same one I met in the desert when I rescued the two Kimlascan aristocrats. _He thought as he recalled the teen that claimed to be after the bandits that kidnapped Luke and Natalia.

_I would be lying if I say I believe that that was a mere coincidence. As if it is normal for an Oracle Knight to chase behind bandits in Kimlascan territory. And what are the chances of those bandits being the same one that kidnapped Luke, the one that nearly all people on this planet know to have inherited Lorelei's power? Highly unlikely I would say. _

He then took a worn notebook out of one of his wing packs and from it, a piece of paper with words that were written in blood on it.

Loreleiday, Sylph-Decan 40, ND2005

The man who kills for wealth will be approached by The One Who Would Seize Glory in the Capital of Light. There he will receive a mission that will change his fate.

_I think it won't be too far-fetched for me to assume that Luke is involved in his plan. _He concluded after he reread the Score of the bandit and connected the two together.

_I understand his reasoning of targeting Luke of all people if he knew about the Closed Score where Luke is supposed to destroy himself and the mining town, which I presume to be Akzeriuth._ He thought as he remembered the Closed Score he read in the volcano.

_But what does he want of him? Judging from the circumstances of our encounter, I would wager that he was going to retrieve the two kids, or maybe just Luke, from the bandits if not for my interference. Does that mean..._

"_Asch translates to Remnant of the Sacred Flame in Ancient Ispanian language. Judging from the name, we are guessing that he may be a replica of Luke, Light of the Sacred Flame."_

_Does that mean Van is going to replicate Luke? _Kratos narrowed his eyes at the thought of Van being the one to create Asch, the one that they assumed to be the replica of Luke.

_The technology of replication is one of the top military secret in Malkuth. Had he already got the means to carry out Fomicry? Wait..._

"_By the way, my name is Saphir Wyon Neis."_

"_I'm going to the church." _

_Maybe..._ He turned the back to the index of the profile and started looking at the column for people with surname that started with the letter N as he remembered the frail scientist, one of the lead researchers of Fomicry, that he saved and escorted to Daath when he first came to Auldrant.

_Neiron... Neirs... Neish... Neith... Weird, there is no one with the surname Neis. Did I think wrong?_ Kratos frowned slightly at not being able to find the surname Neis as he leafed through the profiles of the employees of the Order of Lorelei.

_No, although he didn't commit any real crime, he is a wanted person just for deserting Malkuth as one that holds the information of a top secret military project. Even if he fled to Daath, a city that is not within the territory of Malkuth, he needs to hide from public. _Kratos thought as he remembered the conversation between the Necromancer, Jade Curtiss, and the Crown Prince of Malkuth, Peony Upala Malkuth, that he overheard in Grand Chokmah.

It was true that although criminals can fled to another country to gain protection, it is only a matter of their own country getting wind of their whereabouts and sending a request for the other country to 'kindly' hand over them.

The most logical place for a criminal to hide would be an opposing country that would likely do anything to irk the other country, such as Kimlasca in this case.

From Saphir's status, he would be sought after by both countries. If he went to Kimlasca, the authorities there would likely give him a high position within the research bureau, eager to have a genius fon technician and engineer working for them.

_So why did he fled to Daath instead? Although there is also the risk of Kimlasca resorting to torture instead to get information out of him, I think it is highly unlikely considering he is the one that deserts Malkuth. The most he would get would be someone supervising his activities twenty-four-seven. However, Daath is a neutral city and would have gladly handed him over to Mulkuth the moment they asked, unless of course the Score has something else planned for him... _Kratos inwardly sighed at the possible doing of the Score yet again.

_I doubt a scientist would rely on the Score much. The only option left is if someone offered him something he wants, maybe a chance to continue the Fomicry experiments? If that's the case, then it matches with my previous assumption that Van is going to replicate Luke. But then he would have to be working in secret for Van._

He then returned the file with the profiles to its original position and left the room.

**_** _End Flashback ****

After that, Kratos went to Yulia City in hopes of getting some real information about Auldrant's past and helping him understand the notes written by Yulia.

In the archive of Yulia City, with the permission of Teodoro, he found many records on the Dawn Age. After gaining enough background material and some more reading, he went to see Teodoro and told him of his own suspicion on Van.

**** Flashback ****

"So it is true that Van hated the Score enough to capture the son of Duke Fabre and to replicate him. It seems the lost of his home has a far greater impact on him than I first thought..." The Mayor of Yulia City trailed off with a faraway look.

The sound of the door creaking open snapped Teodoro out and he became alarmed.

"Who is it?" He called out.

The door opened to reveal a four year old girl with shoulder length brown hair.

"I'm sorry grandfather, I didn't know you have a meeting now..." The girl said as she noticed the other occupant in the room.

Teodoro sighed."It is fine Tear, it is not a scheduled meeting and you are not interrupting anything important." He said.

"Is there anything you need of me?" He smiled at his granddaughter and asked.

"Big brother hasn't come home for nearly a month already and I am wondering if you know when he's coming back. He only told me he would be back soon... and..." Tear trailed off and looked down at her feet.

"Out with it, girl."

"Could you... could you come to my room later? I want you to tell me if my Fonic Hymn is ok or not... I couldn't cast the spell yet, but I want to surprise him when he comes home by singing to him the first session of the hymn." Tear asked shyly.

"That's fine, I would come to see you later today. I would also see what I could do to get Van to come home soon." Teodoro replied with a gentle smile as he looked at his adopted grandchild.

The girl looked up at her grandfather at his answer. A huge smile plastered on her face.

"Thank you! It's a promise then! I will see you later!" With that, the girl happily skipped out of the conference room.

"Van's sister?" Kratos asked after remaining silent throughout the whole exchange between the Mayor and his granddaughter.

"Yes, she is Mystearica Aura Fende, or Tear Grants."

"I take it she was only a newborn when Hod was destroyed?" Kratos asked.

"Yes. She is the only living blood relative Van has left. He has been supervising her studies."

"Then Van has been taking his job seriously. I can see that she looks up to him greatly." Kratos commented.

"I just hope that Tear wouldn't take after Van in hating the Score. Although we have been looking forward to rid the world of the Score, I don't want Van to be doing it out of hatred." Teodoro said tiredly.

Neither spoke a word after that, each thinking about a boy being consumed in hatred. Though in Kratos' case, he had been thinking about his half-elf student, Mithos' hatred towards human after his sister, Martel's death at the hands of humans.

"I am sorry for bringing up such depressing thought. Thank you for letting me know of your suspicion on Van." Teodoro said, signalling the end of their conversation.

Without saying another word, Kratos got up from his seat and headed towards the exit of the conference room.

He stopped as he reached the door and he turned his head slightly towards Teodoro's direction.

"Love and hate are two sides of a coin. The reason of Yulia wanting to overturn the Score was out of love for the world and the people in it." Kratos said as he remembered Martel's sacrifice to end the war that would one day destroy their home world if not stopped.

"Van may have hated the Score with a passion, I don't think the only reason he wanted to erase it is hatred." Then he remembered about Mithos and his twisted ideal, all because of a misinterpretation of his beloved sister's final wish.

"He loved his sister, even I could tell that much from how she looked up to him."

_Although Mithos hated all races except half-elf with a passion and had made many wrong decisions and committed many sins throughout his life, the reason he did all the things he did..._

"I believe Van is also doing it for his sister, so she could live a life free from the Score, the same thing that bound him and caused him great grief."

… _was out of love for his sister._

"I believe the main reason he is doing it is out of love for his sister, and maybe to some extent the world itself."

Then, without waiting for Teodoro to respond to his words nor turning back to look at his expression, Kratos left the room.

**** End Flashback ****

He went to Daath after he left Yulia City. However, he didn't join the Order of Lorelei and become an Oracle Knight as Evenos suggested. There were several reasons for that:

1. He was an ageless being. It would be too risky for him to work in a normal organisation for fear of being noticed how he wouldn't age a day even after a long period of time of, say, five years or , he could quit being an Oracle Knight anytime he wanted, but he had no idea how long he would need to stay in this world and that would defeat the purpose of keeping an eye on Van while working in it.

2. His movement would be limited. Being involved in a plan that no one really knew how it worked, it would be unwise to tie himself down with any other duties. He didn't know what was in stall for him yet, and he could be put in a difficult situation or in a position that would easily blow his cover if whatever he needed to do contradicted with what he was required to do as a member of the Order. There was also the possibility of not being able to get to a place or get something done at a specific date and time because of his duty as an Oracle Knight.

3. He would be tied down further not because of duty, but because of fame or rumours. If he were to join the Order for an unknown amount of time, the most logical thing one would do would be to try their best to get promoted so they could be in a position to easier monitor the movement of the Order and the people in it. However, if he became too famous, rumours about him would be flying around all over the place. It wasn't as if he cared about rumours and people talking behind his back, but it would be even more difficult to do what he was supposed to do if too much people knew about him and what he could do.

On the contrary, if he were to hide behind the pretense of a useless soldier that could never get a promotion, others were bound to become suspicious after several years of his remaining useless. He would also need to work under watchful eyes if he were to do something like that... and it was almost against his nature and too difficult for him to pretend to be a moron...

4. He had met Van before and chances of Van forgetting his face were next to nil. He was fairly certain that his rescue of the two kids had set himself up as something like a thorn in Van's side.

Even if it were only a coincidence - not really... seeing as how it was the doing of the Score again - that he unknowingly stumbled upon and disrupted his plan, Van would be wary of him, especially if he were to suddenly become his colleague. Van would also know that his cover as someone chasing after the bandits in the desert area in Kimlascan territory was blown the moment they saw each other in the Order and became even more wary of him.

So no, he wouldn't enrol himself as a member of the Order of Lorelei.

After making up his mind, Kratos decided to do what he did best at information gathering: listening to rumours and gossips.

Since nearly all members of the Order had their own chambers in Daathic Cathedral, there were only so much he could pick up from the drunkards in the local bars. That's why he was hiding in a tree in the courtyard of the Cathedral listening to various conversations that took place.

_It seems he had also found some people who shared his belief and are working with him to acquire __a higher position in the Order._ He thought as he recalled the name Largo from the conversation he just overheard.

_And this mysterious 'he'... really, is there any need to refer to a person with such secrecy? It is not as if said person is a monster or something similar that would do terrifying things to them just by uttering his name out... _He thought and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the ridiculous need of secrecy over something so trivial.

Lunchtime was over and most people had gone back to work. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to hear anything much until dinner time, Kratos decided to pay a visit to the Fon Master and let him know of his decision to not join the Order of Lorelei and of his recent findings.

As he prepared to jump down onto the now empty courtyard, he heard footsteps approaching the courtyard and stilled himself.

_Wait, isn't he-? _His thought trailed back to his first day in Auldrant as he looked at the pale lavender haired man passing through the courtyard, his nose buried in a thick tome.

_Saphir Wyon Neis... so he is the mysterious 'he'. What is he doing here? Is he an active employee of the Order? If Van did pull some strings, it would be only a matter of creating a false background for him to get him into the Order._

He noticed another set of footsteps approaching as he finished his thought.

"Dist."

Saphir reluctantly tore his gaze from the book he had been reading and turned to the person that just called out.

"What now Largo, can't you see I am reading?" Saphir, now known as Dist, said, his tone laced with irritation.

"Van requires your presence." Largo answered.

"Tell him I will see him after I finished the part I'm reading."

"He wants to see you now_._" Largo said with a tone of finality.

Dist narrowed his eyes at Largo as if silently challenging him.

"I could bodily drag you to his office if you refuse." Largo said flatly.

"Fine." Dist rolled his eyes and said.

He closed the thick tome with a loud snap and started towards a different direction from the one he was going originally, probably the direction where Van was in. Largo followed behind Dist and they both left the courtyard.

_So my guess is correct, he is working for Van. He has also changed his name to Dist._

After Kratos made sure that no one else was coming to the courtyard, he jumped down from the tree branch and decided to make a side trip to the archive before going to Evenos' room.

* * *

Evenos closed his eyes and sighed tiredly.

"My worst fear has come true then. Van really has an ulterior motive joining the Order of Lorelei... Have you told Teodoro about it yet?" He asked.

"Yes. It is only fair to let Teodoro know of the path his own grandson chose to walk."

Evenos sighed. "I suppose you are right, I hope he won't be taking this news too hard."

Kratos nodded, imagining what he would think and do if Lloyd was consumed by his revenge for his mother.

Noticing the gloomy atmosphere in the room, Evenos decided to change the topic.

"Your arguments of not joining the Orders are sound, but we still need to think of something else so you could keep an eye on Van, and maybe also some of the higher authorities in the church."

Kratos had told Evenos his reasons, except for the one about his internal age clock, of not becoming an Oracle Knight.

"Do you have any idea?" Evenos questioned.

"What do you think of Largo and Dist?"

"Ah, the ones you thought are working with Van. I can't tell you much about them and where they came from as I don't know that myself. Have you read through their profiles yet?"

"I had, just before I came here. There is no past recorded in either of their profiles and neither have a surname. However, I am not asking for information on them, I am asking what you thinkof them."

"Hmmm... although I had only seen Largo once, I heard he is a very strict person and is quick to follow orders. He doesn't talk much but he would help out the others whenever he could. He is also a very skilled fighter. Due to his decisiveness and will to help out the others, he had a good reputation among both his peers and the higher ups and that's why he was promoted soon after he joined us."

Then as if remembering something, he added, "It was Van that took him back to the Order. Van was both respected and hated by some of the other members and higher ups of the Order because of his young age and talents. However, ever since Largo joined us about eight months ago, most negative thoughts about him vanished. I think it is the result of being respected by a well liked soldier such as Largo."

Kratos took a while to digest the information given to him before asking Evenos about the other one. "What about Dist?"

"Dist is one of the newest recruits that joined us about two months ago. From what I gather, he is a very private person that likes to keep to himself. He is always holed up in his own room during his free time but at the same time very efficient when it comes to getting things done. Van recommended him to the research department and he excelled the rest of the team in areas such as fixing damaged equipments, inventing new gadgets and coming up with new ideas to improve the living standard and weaponry. They are now referring to him as a genius that is on par with one of the twin geniuses of Keterburg." Evenos paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I also heard that the only time the others heard him willingly talk to others is when he is ordering people around in the research department. He is also very strict and protective when it comes to his experiments. Although the higher ups have high expectation of him, he is not well liked by his peers because of his always barking out orders at the others. Despite his personality, I bet he would become the head researcher in another few months' time."

Kratos became silent after Evenos finished his description of the two men working for Van.

He tried associating the friendly and informative, though it could also be viewed as annoying if you looked at it from another side, scientist he escorted to Daath all those weeks ago with the grumpy scientist he just spied on and described by Evenos.

"_And don't forget that we are talking about Saphir here, the one who always come back to us, to you, no matter how you treated him."_

"_As you have said just now, he is always burying his nose in books, well, not that always, but other times he would either be scribbling furiously in his notebooks or locking himself up in his room. Do you think it is possible for others to get to know him?"_

"_Thanks again for everything."_

_If I play my cards right, maybe I could-_

"A penny for your thoughts?" Evenos asked, cutting off Kratos' train of thoughts.

"I have a hunch about what I could possibly do. However, since it is just a hunch, I am not sure whether it will work or not."

"That is fine. Is there anything you require me to do then?" Evenos asked.

"Do you know when Van is going to be away from Daath?"

"I received a note from Teodoro earlier today inquiring Van's whereabouts. It seems his little sister is on the verge of throwing a tantrum at her brother's long absence." Evenos paused as he noticed Kratos' small smile at the mention of the little sister of Van.

"I take it you have met Tear in Yulia City?"

"Yes, I was informing Teodoro of Van's motive when she came in and asked her grandfather to do something about her missing brother."

"I see." Evenos said and smiled his trademark grandfatherly smile. "She truly is a wonder, isn't she? I am going to relay the message to Van so he could return to his hometown and spend some time with little Tear."

"When do you suppose he will be leaving and for how long?"

"He would have to take care of some of the things before he could take his leave. I would say..." Evenos trailed off and looked at the calendar on the wall, "on Loreleiday, Gnome-Decan 6 the latest. I am planning on making it an official mission so that he could spend more time with his sister. So about three to four weeks... till Remday, Gnome-Decan 31."

"Good. This is what I want you to do..."

* * *

**ND 2018 **

The young scion of Lorelei's power shall bring his people to the miner's city. There, the youth will turn power to calamity and be as a weapon to Kimlasca, destroying himself and the city.

Thereafter, the land of Rugnica will be enveloped in war, and Malkuth shall lose territory. Kimlasca-Lanvaldear shall thrive, leading to unprecedented prosperity. Which will ultimately lead to the downfall of Auldrant.

**ND 2019**

The forces of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear shall march northward, through the Rugnica Plains. After inflicting atrocities upon the villagers in their wake, the army shall surround the fortress capital. Within a fortnight, the city shall fall.

The Kimlascan army will stain the Malkuth throne with the blood of its last emperor. Their howls of victory shall resound throughout the land.

**ND 2020**

A mountain of corpses shall bury the fortress capital. Death and disease shall envelope the city. The plague born thence shall become a new poison unto humanity, killing all within its reach. Its spread shall mark the true end of Malkuth.

Kimlasca shall enjoy decades of prosperity as the plague in Malkuth grows. Ultimately, the plague shall be brought into the Kimlascan kingdom by a single man.

Thus shall Auldrant be destroyed by the miasma and turned to dust.

This is the end of Auldrant.

- The Planet Score from the end of the sixth fonstone to the end of the seventh fonstone

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Did anyone think that the 'new guy' was Kratos when they read the first session until the part about 'always burying his nose in books'?

I know that Dist is a loner and that has _absolutely _nothing to do with his not chatting with others. However, in this chapter, he is still dealing with his grief at being 'betrayed' by his best friend and idol by working furiously to retain all the Fomicry data he 'lost' in Malkuth. So yeah, he's described to be a very much antisocial person here.

Well... although no one would willingly approach him even after his 'brooding period' has passed, I won't use the word antisocial to describe him... maybe the terms 'very twisted' and 'downright annoying', but at least in this chapter he isn't that annoying in the others' view... yet...

And did anyone notice the reference to Harry Potter about _you-know-who_? I just couldn't resist including it in this chapter.

Thanks splitheart1120 for your review! To tell the truth, I forgot most of my original plot and have to come up with new ideas about the things that is going to happen from now on ^^"... So yes, I also wonder how much Van's plan would be changed now that Kratos is here.

_Uploaded on 11 July 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	12. A Reluctant Friendship

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; _Character remembering a past event/conversation_; _**Character remembering something they read before**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 11: A Reluctant Friendship**

"What do you mean I am not needed here!" A shrill cry was resounded from within one of the offices in Daath Cathedral.

"You misinterpreted my meaning. I only meant for you to go to Fon Machine Lab Two in Belkend to retrieve some data." Another voice calmly replied.

"Correct me if I am wrong. You are asking me, a researcher and a genius mechanic, to go to Belkend to fetch some data, a job that an _errand _boy does." The first voice, laced with irritation, said.

"No, not any random person could do this job. We need someone to supervise their work while there and to double check the data before retrieving it."

"And is there any specific reason for choosing me to do this job?"

"No."

"Then you could ask the others in the research department to do it. I am nearly finished with my newe-"

"If you want a reason, then let's just say we need someone with more experience than the others to make sure that everything is alright. We have high expectation of you. If you get this job done and nothing goes wrong, then, who knows, maybe you would get another promotion."

"... fine. So what sort of project am I supervising there, and for how long?"

"The project details are written in this file, have a look through it before you leave the Cathedral."

The sound of something heavy hitting the desk followed by that heavy something being picked up was heard.

"You could come back as soon as they finished the experiment or anytime after that, but no later than Ifritday, Gnome-Decan 26."

"Right, so there is a time limit. When do I leave?"

"Early next morning. We will have someone waiting for you at the city gate at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning."

"What! I am not a kid who needs a babysitter!"

"We had reports about bandits being witnessed along the road from Daath to Daath Bay and monsters from Inista Marsh roaming the area near Port Belkend. Or are you saying you can fend them off yourself?"

A sigh was heard.

"... I guess it can't be helped then. Is that all?"

"This mission is a secret mission due to reasons I cannot tell you. Don't let anyone know about it, not even the Grand Maestro. If someone asked, tell them that you are going on a vacation or whatever excuses you can come up with. Also, due to the need of secrecy, the escort we have for you is not from the Order, but a hired sword."

"Fine."

"Good. You are dismissed."

* * *

"Will this really work?" Evenos sighed and questioned the empty space before him after Dist left his office.

"This is our best bet now." A voice said from behind a door to the room next to the office.

The door then opened to reveal Kratos.

"Were you listening to the whole conversation?" Evenos asked, a bit shocked at not noticing the red haired man eavesdropping.

"Only part of it. But I have heard enough to understand the reason for your worry."

"Maybe if it's Largo-"

"No, from what I gather, Largo was some sort of mercenary before he joined the Order. It won't be easy to get to his sides."

"But don't you think Dist's personality is a bit too... _extreme_? And he is supposed to be a genius, wouldn't the chance of him noticing something amiss being greater?" Evenos asked worriedly.

"He may be a genius in Fontech, but he is far from being an expert at socializing with others, at least from what I gather these past few days shadowing him. It may be a risky bet, but no bets are without any risk."

Evenos shook his head. "I still think it would be easier if we target Largo instead, at least he has a better altitude and is easier to approach."

"A mercenary, especially a skilled one such as Largo if I am not mistaken, would know how to steel himself whenever he deems necessary. It also doesn't matter how they interact with others, what counts is which would be easier to get to and to manipulate." Kratos explained.

"But if you are to do that, you need to at least understand what's on their mind. We don't have any past information on either of them. I could always extract information on them from the Score, but it would be difficult and require much time seeing as how they both threw away their surnames, I bet they changed their birth name, too. So why Dist?"

_He was hiding his presence by blending into the darkness in the darkened corridor outside of Dist's room._

_It was nearly midnight when he decided to leave. However, his retreat was stopped by a very soft voice, probably sleep-talking, coming from the room._

"_Jade... Professor Nebilim... please... don't go... don't leave me..."_

"... I guess you could say it's experience. My hunch is telling me that Dist would be the easier target."

"There is something you aren't telling me."

"... I met Dist before he came to Daath." Kratos finally said after weighing the pros and cons of giving up this piece of information.

"What? You know about his past? What is his true name?"

_He was in the clearing near the forest, or what was left of it after a forest fire that occurred suspiciously close to the time when he first arrived in Auldrant, where he rescued the pale lavender haired scientist._

_A lone grave stood in the clearing amongst the whiteness of the snow that was always covering Keterburg and its surroundings._

_The engravings on the tomb read:_

_**Gelda Nebilim**_

_**ND 1965 – ND 1993**_

_**Former Locrian Colonel of the Order of Lorelei**_

_**Beloved Teacher and Founder of the Private School in Keterburg**_

"..."

"You aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"... I have my own reasons." Kratos said.

"Fine, there is nothing else I could do apart from praying that your hunch is right then."

Silence reigned the room after that, then...

"What can you tell me of Gelda Nebilim?" Kratos suddenly asked out of the blue.

"What has she got to do with this?" Evenos raised an eyebrow at the randomness of Kratos' question.

"She had left the Order of Lorelei nearly fifteen years ago, most of her records should have already been erased. Why do you know about her anyway?" He said, confused at the coming up of her name in their conversation.

"..."

He sighed at Kratos' 'answer'. "It's something you can't tell me again?"

"I am sorry, but I need some information on her."

"That's fine. Gelda Nebilim started serving in the Order of Lorelei nearly twenty five years ago when she was still a teen. She was an all-round soldier and was well loved and respected by the others in Daath." He paused and rubbed his chin.

"She became a Locrian Colonel about eighteen years ago. She is a seventh fonist and her expertise lies in Fonic Artes. I once gave her the mission to investigate into relics known as the Catalyst Weapons, six weapons that shared the power of Rem and Shadow, the Aggregate Sentiences of Light and Darkness..." He trailed off and his eyes became hazy, as if remembering a horrifying past.

"During one of the investigations, she failed a Planetary Arte experiment administered at Mt. Roneal, resulting in the deaths of many Oracle Knights. She left the Order after that accident." He stopped there and looked at Kratos, the haze in his eyes cleared.

"Last I heard, she opened a private school in Keterburg that accepts all those who had the will to learn at a very low school fee. That is all I could tell you about her."

* * *

It was five to eight in the morning, shops were starting to open and the streets of Daath were starting to be filled with people hurrying to their jobs.

Kratos stood at the entrance of the city and waited patiently for his charge.

_I hope all goes according to plan, and if he plays along, then- _His thought came to an abrupt stop as he heard the familiar voice of Dist letting out a shrill cry and sighed.

"Hey, watch where you are going!" Dist cried out while getting up from the ground.

"You are the one that were reading while walking and bumped into me! You should have paid more attention to where you are going!" The man before him shouted back at him.

"If you knew I was reading, you could have easily avoided me! Apo-" Dist stopped at the hand on his shoulder.

He turned and started to open his mouth to give the person who touched him a piece of his mind. "What do you th-" and stopped when he realised just who the one standing behind him was.

"Kratos?"

"Pick up your belongings, the ship departs in three hours' time, we need to make haste."

"Wha-? Wait, you are my escort?" Dist's eyes widened at the thought of the red haired mercenary being the one to escort him to Belkend.

"I said we need to make haste." Kratos said and applied a slight pressure onto the shoulder his hand was still resting on.

"Ri- right." Hearing the no-nonsense tone and remembering the last time when the mercenary used that tone on him when they were travelling to Daath, Dist obediently went to pick up his things that were scattered on the ground when he fell down.

"What? You think you could just walk away after bump-" The man stopped himself at the glare Kratos was giving him.

"Fine, watch where you are going next time!" The man exclaimed and left.

After the man left, Kratos helped Dist picked up his remaining belongings from the ground.

"Let me carry them for you." Kratos said and relieved Dist of his load.

"Thanks Kratos. Um..." Dist trailed off, not sure what to say to the man.

"Save your breath for later. We have wasted enough time as it is, we need to start walking." Without waiting for Dist to respond, Kratos turned and started towards the direction of the city gate.

"Right." Dist said and fell into steps behind Kratos.

The first half of their trip to Daath Bay was spent in silence. It wasn't as if Dist didn't want to say anything to his red headed companion, but walking long distance was never the frail scientist's forte and as Kratos had suggested, he really needed to save his breath if he wanted to catch up with Kratos.

"I think we should rest for a while before going on." Kratos said after nearly two hours of silent walking.

Dist's legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground at Kratos' announcement and started catching his breath. Kratos took a waterskin from Dist's pack and gave it to him. He took the waterskin from Kratos and eagerly drank from it.

"Thanks." Dist croaked out after taking several large gulps of water.

Kratos stood beside Dist and said, "Judging from our progress, we could take a ten-minute break."

Neither men said anything after that, the only sound being Dist's harsh breath.

After several minutes, Dist had nearly fully recovered his breath and turned towards Kratos.

"I never understand how you could be so unaffected even after continuously walking for several hours straight. You are even carrying all my stuff." He pouted.

"I am a mercenary, physical endurance is part of the job's description." Kratos explained.

"Right... so you were in Daath doing mercenary jobs this whole time?"

"No, I have also travelled to other cities, I only returned to Daath about two and a half weeks ago."

"I see. By the way, um... I am now... I mean..." Dist shifted uncomfortably, not knowing how to finish what he wanted to say.

"If you are referring to your new name and job, then I already know about it."

"Wha- how?"

Kratos inwardly sighed at the 'genius' before him and said, "I read your profile when I accepted this job."

"Oh, right." Dist blinked at the obvious answer and laughed nervously.

"How silly of me..." He said and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

Then after a while, "You aren't going to ask me about it?"

"It is your own business."

"Right..." Dist trailed off and started looking away.

"Though I don't mind hearing it if you want someone to talk to." Kratos added soon after he noticed Dist's disappointed look.

_I could gain some information this way anyway._

However, upon seeing the hopeful look on Dist, Kratos started feeling an impending headache. Before Dist started to say anything, he told him that they needed to continue their trip to Daath Bay and that he could tell him about it after they boarded the ferry.

_I knew that the only reason he didn't say anything about himself last time was because he was still grieving over whatever happened to him in Keterburg. _Kratos thought after they resumed walking.

_I meant it when I told Evenos that Dist would be easier to get to and manipulate... though the word manipulate seems a bit too harsh if we are talking about Dist. _

Kratos recalled how excited Dist was when he was explaining to him theories that he came up with during their last encounter and his hopeful look just now.

_I would say he is more like a lonely child vying for other's attention. _

"_I also heard that the only time the others heard him willingly talk to others is when he is ordering people around in the research department. He is also very strict and protective when it comes to his experiments. Although the higher ups have high expectation of him, he is not well liked by his peers because of his always barking out orders at the others."_

_Maybe one that doesn't know how to express himself, but a child nonetheless. _

"_They are now referring to him as a genius that is on par with one of the twin geniuses of Keterburg."_

He remembered hearing about the twin geniuses of Keterburg: Dr. Jade Balfour, now known as Jade Curtiss, and Dr. Saphir Wyon Neis, now known as Dist, when he revisited Keterburg.

_Although I am no genius myself, I knew enough to understand most of their thinking traits. _Kratos thought as he recalled the many geniuses, some self-proclaimed_,_ he had met during his four thousand years of life.

_Most geniuses have problems integrating themselves into 'normal' people as they could not comprehend the thinking of them. They are also the easiest to choose the path of no return with the smallest push in the wrong direction. Once they started walking down the wrong path, it would require much work to right their thoughts again._

He had thought about the implication of the twin geniuses of Keterburg inventing a method to replicate living beings _after _Gelda Nebilim, the loving professor of the private school in Keterburg, died. He had also read from the records about how Jade had been hurling back corpses from the battlefield for their Fomicry experiments. It is as if they were looking for a way to revive the dead through the use of Fomicry.

_No, revive is the wrong word as the replica would never be the same as the original. Although they are physically the same, they had different souls and could never replace the original._

His thought trailed off to Martel Yggdrasill, his companion that was dead four thousand years ago, and Martel, the Spirit of the World Tree that shares the same name, same appearance and even the same memory as Martel Yggdrasill, but could never replace her.

_Jade Curtiss may have finally understood that replicas could never replace the originals, no matter how perfect they match with their counterparts, but it seems that Saphir... Dist hasn't understood this simple truth yet._

"_Kratos! Yuan! I am going to find a way to revive Martel. Will the two of you help me?" The blond half elf before him said with a tear-streaked face, lying in his arms was the corpse of Martel Yggdrasill, their fourth companion and the loving sister of Mithos._

_He is like Mithos after Martel died. The only way Mithos knew how to live was with Martel by his side... he was like a child who never grew up and was always clinging to the past. I bet Dist is also doing the same thing. And..._

"_And don't forget that we are talking about Saphir here, the one who always come back to us, to you, no matter how you treated him."_

"_All we need to do is find him and apologize to him and let him know how we want him to come back!"_

"_You have to understand that the next time we meet, he will be our enemy, one that we need to arrest or take down."_

… _even the one he looks up to had given up on him. Just like how Yuan, Mithos' would-be brother-in-law, and I, his teacher, had given up on Mithos even before we tried._

"Finally!" Dist exclaimed as Daath Bay came into view.

Dist picked up his speed, suddenly forgetting his fatigue, eager to get to Daath Bay as soon as possible so he could rest.

"Hurry up Kratos!" He called back once he was in front of Kratos instead of lagging behind him.

Amused at the childish behaviour of his charge, Kratos watched as Dist quickened his pace even more and the distance between them grew.

_I failed to help Mithos overcome his grief. Dist is not Mithos, but I still want to help him. Though it would never be the same, it would be like a chance for me to pick up from where I failed Mithos. _

* * *

"- so he told me to change my name. Really, I liked my original name, Saphir, it is the same as Sapphire, a beautiful name worthy for a beautiful genius like me."

_I know his type, the type of person that likes to latch onto those that had helped them out before or once they deemed them 'worthy'... but it seems I have underestimated his 'latching ability'... he likes to talk, maybe too much at times...and also a narcissist with a huge ego problem... a deadly mixture of personality._

His thought trailed off to the red haired Chosen of Tethe'alla he was sent to mentor about twenty years ago. _At least Zelos knew when to shut up and that his narcissistic nature was in fact just an act._

It had been nearly half an hour since they boarded the ship to Port Belkend in Daath Bay. Once they boarded the ship, Dist dragged Kratos to a place where few to none would have thought to pass by.

After settling down and making sure that no one would be hearing him, sticking to his words, Dist started telling Kratos of the reason of his becoming an Oracle Knight and his new name.

"I guess it can't be helped seeing that the only way I could remain in Daath is to change my name. That's why I'm now called Dist."

… _but really, should he be this trusting despite that I am just a random person who only saved him once and saw him twice? At least he hasn't talked about Fomicry... yet..._

Kratos sighed and said, "I don't think it is wise of you to tell me all this."

"Why?" Dist blinked.

"You don't know me apart from my name and job," _which is a lie, _" haven't you considered the fact that I may have been waiting for a chance for you to say something like this and took you straight back to Malkuth or use it for blackmail later?"

"Wha- that's- wait- no- I mean-?" Dist blinked a few times more and stuttered after Kratos' explanation.

He then let out a huge breath and said tiredly, "I don't think it matters since you already know my real name anyway. You could easily find out about me on your own. And if you are to do something like handing me over to Malkuth, you could have done it anytime you want, but you haven't. You even told me about the risk of telling it to others, so I believe I could trust you." He finished with a smile on his face.

Kratos resisted the urge to facepalm at Dist's 'logical' thinking, well, it was mostly right, but still...

"Next time just think before talking freely about things like that." He half chided the careless man before him.

"Hey, I was thinking! I just..." Dist trailed off at that.

He looked down at the floor between them and mumbled under his breath. "I just want to trust a friend."

Although he didn't mean for his mumbling words to be heard by anyone other than himself, Kratos enhanced hearing picked it up easily.

_Yes, a lonely person with a difficult wound to heal, but at least he wants to make new friends. _He thought as his eyes softened.

_I won't tell you that you can trust me_ _or that I could be your friend, but for now... "_Your secret is safe with me._"_

Dist looked up at that, a smile on his face. "Thanks, I knew I could trust you."

Then after a moment of silent, Dist started asking questions. "So where have you been to these past two months?"

"Nowhere specific, just wherever my jobs require me to go to."

"Oh, okay... what sort of jobs did you do?"

"Normal mercenary jobs."

Then before Dist got the chance to say another word, Kratos added, "Jobs like escorting, delivering and retrieving."

"Don't you think it's boring?"

_Will his questions ever end? _Kratos thought and decided to change his tactic to throwing the question right back at him.

"What do you think?"

"Of course it's boring!"

"Why would you think so?"

"You are doing the same type of job over and over. I call it boring."

"It's the way I live. I need to do the jobs to earn money." Kratos shrugged.

"But still... I could never imagine doing things I don't like just for the sake of money."

"Most people call that working for living, and who said I don't like it?" There was a glint of amusement in Kratos' eyes as he said that.

"Wha- you can't be serious! I am sent to one of the labs in Belkend to retrieve some data and I am already thinking that it's boring."

"Right."

"I mean except for the part of meeting you again." Dist corrected himself at hearing Kratos' disbelieving tone.

Kratos sighed. "Isn't there also the part where you need to supervise the experiments going on there?"

"Wha- How- Right, the profile and job description again." Dist then laughed nervously and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

After a while, he saw that Kratos was still waiting for his answer – well, not really, Kratos was just trying to find a way to make Dist stop talking and asking about him all the time – and answered.

"Normally I would love the chance of supervising an experiment, especially one that is related to fon machines. But not now, not when I am busy reconstructing the Fom- my other fon machines."

_At least he understands the need for secrecy for Fomicry, but I don't think he could keep his mouth shut for a long time. _Kratos thought and inwardly winced at Dist accidentally telling a random person about his working on a forbidden technology just because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Speaking of fon machines, have you seen the..." then Dist proceeded to talk about his 'beloved' fon machines that he invented in the past, delightful at the chance to show off to his 'new friend'.

_At least he is not asking about me again... was he like that even before he left Grand Chokmah? I understand that he is just eager for other's attention, but really, if I am a man with less patience, I would have walked away already. _Kratos inwardly sighed for the umpteenth time since he met Dist this morning.

_I bet it is only a matter of time till he told me about his life in Grand Chokmah, maybe also his childhood... although it may be annoying, that works for me as I would have something to work on if I am to talk him out of reviving his dead teacher. _Kratos thought as he listened to Dist's animated explanation on some of his greater achievements in the past.

_I guess it helps that I like to listen to others and analyse the situation while remaining silent more than speaking out my mind and that what he is currently telling me is actually quite useful. How lucky I am to be interested in learning new things like Fontech. It also helps that he knew what he was doing when it comes to fon machines. But still..._

The one-sided conversation went on with Dist 'showing off' his knowledge in Fontech and some of the theories behind the fon machines he constructed and Kratos nodding once in a while.

A low rumbling noise resounded from the stomach of the rambling man, cutting off his lengthy speech.

Dist coughed to hide his embarrassment. "I guess it's time for lunch, let's go to the cafeteria."

Then he turned and headed towards the direction of the cafeteria of the ship.

_Will this whole trip be like this? _Kratos inwardly shuddered at the thought of Dist talking for the whole duration of their trip to Belkend.

He followed his charge to the cafeteria and couldn't shake off the feeling that he was going to age another millennium in the next few hours.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Did anyone see how similar Dist is to Mithos when it comes their obsession to revive a dead person? I had even once came up of a very crude plot where Mithos and Dist team up and use their respective technologies (soul transfer and replication) to revive Martel and Nebilim.

Really, I think it would be an easy job to revive the dead if they were to work together: Mithos could transfer the soul to another living being but could not find the perfect host for the soul; Dist could create the perfect body but not the soul of the original.

And the thought of Dist changing his target from Jade to Kratos and started annoying the hell out of him is just too funny, I couldn't resist the urge to write it out.

splitheart1120: Well, yes, you can see that Kratos is working on it, starting from Van's 'recruit'... oops, shouldn't say too much here, read the coming chapters if you wanna find out ^^

_Uploaded on 16 July 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	13. To Tame a Combined Power

Things you need to know before you read this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; _Character remembering a past event/conversation_; _**Character remembering a past passage they** **read**_; Character reading

- Remday is equivalent to Monday, Gnomeday is equivalent to Sunday and Loreleiday is equivalent to Saturday

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 12: To Tame a Combined Power**

It was afternoon of the next day when the ship Kratos and Dist boarded arrived at Port Sheridan. The ship had stayed there till late night for maintenance, refilling supplies and picking up more passengers before once again setting out for Port Belkend. They arrived at Port Belkend, the only Port in western Aberria, in the morning of the third day after they left Daath. Although they had not encountered any bandits during their trip from Daath to Daath Bay, they weren't that lucky with the monsters investing western Aberria.

"Hurricane Thrust!" Kratos thrust his sword into the midsection of the monster before him. A burst of wind was created from the powerful thrusting motion, blasting away the monster.

Another monster followed suit and leaped at him, jaws opened wide. He parried the attack with his sword and delivered a roundhouse kick at the attacking monster. It crashed into another monster that was posing to strike at him.

"Stay close to me!" He shouted.

"It's impossible!" Dist shouted back at Kratos while running away from another monster that was chasing after him.

_How come there are so many monsters?_

They were at the outskirts of a forest adjacent to the path connecting Port Belkend and Belkend when they were ambushed by the monsters from the forest.

_It is as if they were waiting for us._

Kratos had heard the monsters in the forest before they reached the forest. However, he paid them no heed as he noticed that most of them hadn't moved from their original position since he took note of them. He thought that they were most likely resting and he could easily dispatch those that were not resting and chose to come at them. How wrong he was when most, if not all, the monsters he picked up with his enhanced hearing jumped at them at the _same _time.

_But why?_

"Kratos!"

Kratos slashed the monster before him into halves and risked a glance towards the direction of the cry as he brought his shield up and blocked the claw that was coming at him. He cursed as he saw that Dist was surrounded by monsters a whole fifty meters away from him.

_Since when did the distance between us become this far? I won't be able to reach him in time! Unless..._

Kratos pushed away the claw with his shield. He leaped into the air and with all his might, kicked the monster square in the face. He used the momentum of his kick and propelled himself back a distance and landed on an area free of immediate danger of being overrun by the monsters. The monster he just kicked crashed into the others behind it and together, they were sent flying backwards before finally crashing onto the land about twenty meters from his current position.

_This will buy me some time. I have wanted to avoid doing anything that requires mana, but it is the only option I have left._

He held his sword horizontally at his eye level in front of him and placed his other hand on the other end of the blade and began chanting.

"Sacred powers, cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls."

_What is this feeling? _His brow furrowed at the feeling of something definitely _not _mana coursing through his body.

_Anyway, now is not the time, I will worry about it later._

"Rest in peace, sinners!"

He channeled that _something_ and also some mana into his sword and powered the spell he was going to cast.

He turned Last Fencer so that it was in an upright position. "Judgement!"

Light pillars started falling from the sky the moment he finished casting the spell, illuminating the darkened sky.

_Wha-? It looks different. _

Kratos watched on as the wider light pillars with a red tint that he was sure wasn't there when he last cast the spell struck the monsters on the battlefield. Some of the lesser monsters struck by the light pillars disintegrated upon contact with it.

_It also seems that it is more powerful than before. I wonder why? _

Dist was curled up in a fetal position and was covering his head with his hands. He yelped and closed his eyes as a wolf-like monster jumped at him, its jaw opened wide to reveal sharp teeth with large pointed canines. However, before the monster could reach its target, it was struck mid-air by one of the light pillars.

Hearing the monster cry out and _still _feeling his body intact, Dist cracked open his eyes and took in the scene before him. What he saw stunned him into a momentary stupor. He watched on, awestruck, as the wolf-like monster, and also some of the other monsters surrounding him, seemingly disintegrated as they were enveloped by the light pillars that were all over the place. More light pillars fell down as seconds passed by and before the last one hit the ground, Kratos was already moving and closing the distance between him and Dist.

"Move!" He shouted as he slashed at another monster charging at him.

Dist snapped out of his stupor at Kratos' shout. He looked around and noticed that there was a path on his left that was free of monsters, courtesy to Kratos' arte. He dived into the gap between the monsters just as another bear-like monster pounded its paw onto the ground he was just standing on.

"Double Demon Fang!" Kratos lowered the tip of his sword, almost touching it to the ground, and performed an upward slash into the air before him.

Two blue ground projectiles came out of the tip of Last Fencer and headed towards the monsters blocking his path. Without waiting for his attack to connect, Kratos jumped high into the air and somersaulted mid-air over the horde of monsters separating him and Dist.

"Fierce Demon Fang!" He slammed his sword to the ground as soon as he landed between Dist and the monsters. A huge shockwave was created, damaging and pushing the monsters back in a wide arc in front of him.

"Run away as fast as you can towards my four o'clock at my signal." Kratos said while still facing the horde of monsters before him.

"What?"

"There isn't any monster in that direction."

"How do you-"

"It's not important now."

"But what about you?"

"I will join you later."

"O- Okay."

Just as they finished their conversation, three monsters jumped at them.

"Stay firm!" Kratos cried.

"Light Spear!" He then performed a horizontal spin that left a spiraling trail of light from his sword while he jumped into the air. He followed through with a strong downward thrust onto the ground at an angle, causing the ground to shake upon contact with his weapon.

The monsters closest to them swayed a bit at the small scale earthquake caused by Kratos' attack.

"Now!" He shouted and heard the younger man dashing towards the direction he was told to escape to.

_Now to test out my theory... _

"Guardian Field!" He held his sword vertically before him, the tip of the sword facing the sky.

The familiar feeling of mana coursed through his body as a field of light was summoned around him pushing away the monsters that were closing in on him and others that were too close to him.

_So it's only Judgement? Or..._

He then summoned his mana wings and flew towards the centre of the horde of monsters.

_This is going to cost me a lot if what I am thinking is wrong... but it is also the only way to end this quickly._

He held his sword before him, similar to when he used Guardian Field, and concentrated. A blue aura surrounded him, repelling all the monsters that tried to attack him, as he prepared for his final attack.

_Now for the finale. _A large seal of light formed on the ground around him.

"Try to resist the holy chains..." Chains of light appeared around him covering the whole area that was within the glyph.

_So my guess is wrong... _He thought as he felt mana being drained from his body to fill the enormous glyph beneath him and the monsters.

_No matter, I will have the time to rest and replenish my lost mana once we reach Belkend._

"Shining Bind!" He rose into the air as a large and extended blast of light originated from the glyph. The light enveloped all the monsters that were caught within the glyph and eliminated them. The seal dispelled and Kratos floated back to the ground. His translucent blue wings dissolved once his feet touched the ground. He staggered a few steps and had to dug his sword into the ground to steady himself.

_Shining Bind is a move in which I draw in divine energy from the surroundings and channel it to the seal originally. Since there is no mana in this world, I have to use my own mana to power the whole glyph. I should have thought better than to confirm my suspicion using such a powerful and draining move._

He took out an orange gel from one of his wing packs and chewed on it. He felt some of his mana coming back as he swallowed the recovery item.

_This will do for now. _He pulled out Last Fencer from the ground and set off towards the direction where his charge ran off to.

* * *

"Kratos! You are alright!" Dist exclaimed as soon as he saw the red headed mercenary approaching from a distance.

He ran towards Kratos. "The monsters?"

"Dead."

Dist gapped at Kratos' answer and exclaimed, "Amazing! Did you use another Seventh Fonic Arte to eliminate them?"

At Dist's question, Kratos remembered a passage about the Fonic Hymns he had read somewhere and something Evenos had told him before.

_**Judgement represents the fifth Fonic Hymn and could only be cast by a Seventh Fonist. Though it is a Fonic Arte exclusive to Seventh Fonist and even then only those who uses the Fonic Hymn can use, it is associated with the Fonon of fire.**_

"_I have once heard about creating a pseudo Seventh Fonist by injecting seventh Fonon into a person, but then it might cause contamination and mutation to both their body and mind."_

_The element of fire... is that why the light pillars of Judgement was tinged with a reddish colour? Does that mean the reason I can use it without using mana is that I am now a pseudo Seventh Fonist?_

He then noticed a bleeding wound on Dist's arm and covered the injury with his hand.

_Only one way to find out... _"First Aid." A bluish green light enveloped his hand and when he removed his hand, he noticed that the skin where the wound was previously at was as good as new.

He examined his hand that was just enveloped in the bluish green light, noticing the feeling of something _not _mana leaving his body as he healed the wound.

"Um... Thanks for that..."

Kratos absentmindedly nodded at Dist's words. He dropped his hand back to his side and told Dist that they needed to make haste so they could get to Belkend before night, when monsters were the most active.

At the mention of more monsters coming at them, Dist nodded his head furiously a few times and started heading to the direction of Belkend.

_So it is true that I can cast spells that a Seventh Fonist is capable of, using the Fonon of Sound that was injected into my body when I touched that fonstone. _

His thought trailed off to the different and stronger Judgement and the different and more effective recovery spell he just cast.

_Not only Judgement, even First Aid looks different with the bluish green light as opposed to its original green glow. It also fully healed that wound fully whereas I could only stop the bleeding for a wound of that degree before. I can't say for sure if it really is a power-up or is considered normal for a Seventh Fonist..._

He stopped his thought and caught up to Dist as he noticed that his charge had walked on without him.

_There is also the question of why I could use a Fonic Hymn without singing the melody out. _He shuddered inwardly at the thought of him singing during the heat of battle.

_It seems there is something else I could do during our stay in Belkend._

Then, as if suddenly remembering something important, he stopped walking and called out to Dist. "Wait."

Dist paused in his steps and turned to Kratos. "What is it? Didn't you just say that we need to hurry?"

"Do you know if a Seventh Fonist could attract monster?"

"Hmmm..." Dist blinked at the question and crossed his arms before him, deep in thought.

"I haven't heard of something like that before, but..." He trailed off as he searched through his memory.

"I know that monsters could become unrest if a powerful Fonist who doesn't know how to contain their power were near them. The Fonon that were out of control would at times leak out of the Fonist's body. No matter what the Fonon frequency of the Fonist is, the Fonon that escaped their body would cause the air particles nearby to vibrate at a frequency that is only noticeable by mon- " He paused his explanation and looked at Kratos weirdly.

Realisation dawned on him and he widened his eyes at Kratos. "Are you saying you don't know how to control your rampaging Fonon and Fonic Artes and that the monsters attacked us because of _you_?"

"I am not sure myself as that never happened before. I could control my artes just fine. But just in case, could you tell me what one could do to contain their power?"

"Err... I never really took the time to study about ways to do it. Although I know a few Fonic Artes, the ones I could perform are too weak... wait, " he paused and started searching through his pack.

"It should be here... where... Ah ha!" He exclaimed and held up a small box-like device.

"Although this is just a prototype, and not really appropriate to use on a friend, I think this could help with our problem."

"What is it?"

"It is a Fon-Slot Seal I developed recently, it suppresses one's ability to use Fonic Artes."

"How do I use it?"

"What? You sure you want to use it? It is a one way ticket to stop you from using Fonic Artes as I haven't had the time to work on a reverse seal for it yet."

"If you don't want me to use it, then why brought this up?"

"I- that is- no! Not only did it block one's ability to use Fonic Artes, it also reduces one's physical strength significantly."

Kratos stopped what he was going to say as he saw Dist searched through his pack again. He retrieved a small toolkit and sat down on the grass.

"Yes, I meant for you to use it, but after I made some modification to it."

"We need to hurry if we are to get to Belkend before night falls. How long is it going to take?"

"Not very long. Now stop talking so I could concentrate." Dist snapped at Kratos and started to work on the cubic device.

_At least we are currently in a plain that is free of monster. _Kratos thought and sighed.

"_... _this should work... if I remove this glyph... also the one over here... and add this pattern to the glyph here..._"_

_I can see why others call him a genius and expert. _He thought and watched as Dist worked on the device with deft fingers.

_An expert on machinery... this takes me back... _He thought and remembered the time when Yuan, his best friend that was in his home planet, expertly worked on the coded doors whenever they needed to break into a well guarded room during the Kharlan War.

_I wonder if I could see him again in the future..._

"Done!" Kratos snapped out of his thought at Dist's joyful cry.

_How long was it? _He looked up and noted the position of the Sun in the sky.

_Already half an hour! … I really shouldn't do that when I am supposed to stand guard. I am lucky this time that nothing happened._

"I modified it so it won't reduce your physical strength and will only partially block your ability to use Fonic Artes. It will still suppress the raging Fonon in your body by closing your Fon Slots so nothing would leak out. However, only the Fon Slots that are detected to be leaking out wild Fonons would be closed as opposed to closing all Fon Slots like it would originally. I also changed the pattern of the glyph that controls the seal so that you could still tap into your power and use Fonic Artes once you have a better control." Dist finished his explanation and looked at Kratos.

"You ready?"

At Kratos' nod Dist threw the Fon-Slot Seal into the air above Kratos.

The cube glowed and two translucent rings, one smaller and one bigger, with letters all over them were projected into the air revolving around it. The box-like device floated at the center of the sphere that were defined by the two rings. A glyph appeared beneath Kratos and his body was covered by a blue light.

He gasped at the uncomfortable sensation of his energy draining from his body and had to dug his heels into the ground to remain standing. He could see his energy being absorbed as blue translucent threads rose from the glyph and gathered into the seal above him.

Finally the glyph beneath him disappeared and the Fon-Slot Seal returned to Dist's hand.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"I could manage."

Dist stared at Kratos' expressionless face that gave away nothing. If not for the gasp he just heard Kratos let out and the dim glow on the seal in his hand telling him that it had been activated and done its job, he would have thought the Fon-Slot Seal had failed to do what it was supposed to do.

He pocketed the cubic device. "I would start working on the reverse seal once I had the time."

Feeling around for his energy, Kratos realized that he could now easily distinguish between the mana and Fonon that were coursing through his body.

"No, take your time."

"What?" Dist blinked at Kratos' words.

"It seems I really had too much energy in me, making it uncontrollable. I could now feel the Fonon in my body clearly. It would take some time till I could get used to it and be ready to have all my power back."

"I don't understand, if you had that much power already, how come you only just realized how to control, no, feel it? You also said that this never occurred to you before, so how?"

Inwardly cursing at his mistake, Kratos tried to come up with a plausible excuse to tell the scientist to no avail. Finally giving up, he said, "I'm not sure about it either. I'm just a travelling mercenary and never really bothered with details of Fonic Arte. Just knowing how to use it is fine with me."

Dist crossed his arms before him and became silent after hearing Kratos' answer. He narrowed his eyes at Kratos and Kratos could practically hear the gears running in younger man's head.

"Let's go. We shouldn't waste anymore time here." Kratos said, not wanting Dist to dwell on the subject any further.

"Fine." Dist sighed at Kratos' tone and once again started towards the direction of Belkend.

_I shouldn't have said that... Although it is easy to forget with his 'strangeness' and at times absurd and idiotic thinking , he is still a genius with a sharp mind. I need to watch what I am going to say from now on. _Kratos thought and fell in step behind his charge.

* * *

They arrived at Belkend just as the sun set and darkness fell upon the land. Without waiting for Kratos, Dist went straight to the inn and inquired about the room that was reserved for him. He was thoroughly exhausted and told Kratos not to call him for dinner and retired to his room for the night.

The next morning, after finishing breakfast, the two men parted ways and went on to do their respective work, or in Kratos' case, self-appointed work.

While Dist was supervising the experiment in Fon Machine Lab Two as instructed, Kratos had been spending time either in the library reading about Fonic Arte that used the Fonon of Sound or in the fields near Belkend trying out his new and improved abilities.

Although he still couldn't find out the reason behind his ability to cast Judgement with Seventh Fonon without using the Fonic Hymn, he decided that the detail was not important if he could use the spell just fine without _singing_.

When he tried out Judgement again to get used to the feeling of using seventh Fonon for an offensive spell, he found that he could manipulate the Fonon and mana in his body so that the spell was not only powered by Fonon, but by both Fonon and mana, like when he accidentally cast the powered up version of Judgement when he was fighting the monsters. The same thing happened when he performed the recovery spell on Dist's injury, leading to a slightly different looking and more effective First Aid.

Apart from Judgement, there were other angel skills, Holy Song and Grand Cross, that were exclusive to those who could use Fonic Hymns in this world. Holy Song was a support spell and Kratos had no intention to learn or use it, so that means the only one he could also try out is Grand Cross. However, unlike Judgement, Grand Cross was one of the angel skills he only knew the theory behind but never used as the spell took even _longer _to cast than Judgement and the damage it caused was too localized. However, if it is one of the only offensive spells he could use while in this world, then...

"Glitter of the supreme ruler, heed my voice, a holy prayer that spun to eternity. Shine, light of doom! Redeem all that defy thy will! Grand Cross!"

He watched as the spell took effect. A stream of light rose from the ground and changed its form into that of a giant cross once it reached a certain height. The cross then exploded and sparkles of light fell to the ground. He smiled, satisfied at his success at casting the powerful angel spell in only his third attempt. He then proceeded to work on manipulating the mana and Fonon within his body. He concentrated on the flow of them and tried to channel an exact value of ratio of the two types of energies however he wanted into his spells.

Kratos sighed after his eighth attempt to mold the two different energies in the exact proportion he wanted failed.

_It isn't as if I am in a hurry to master it, I only acquired the ability to use the Fonon of Sound recently, there is no need for me to rush._

He meant it when he told Dist to take his time to create a reverse seal for the Fon-Slot Seal. If it was this difficult to just contain his partly sealed power, then he needed to have a much better control if he was to get back all his power.

_I think it is time for me to head back. _Kratos thought after spending three more hours trying to control this new power of his.

The sun had already set and it was approaching the time where entries into the city would be viewed with suspicion by the guards. The last thing he wanted was to cause a commotion. He could always spent the night in the wild, but he found much to his annoyance that Dist would fuss over him like a mother hen if he were found to be 'missing' for the night. To be fair, he understood that Dist was only doing this because he was concerned for his health, especially since he told him the other day he had _never _tried the Fon-Slot Seal on any other living being before, not even a lab rat.

Belkend, being the City of Fon Machine, was very lively during the day, what with workers running all over the city to transport the materials needed for experiments, tourists coming to the museums and touring around the city to look at the fon machines produced here, students spending their time in the city after their lessons in the Fonic Academy of Belkend finished and sick people coming and going to the Belkend Hospital, the most famous hospital on Auldrant, to cure their sickness.

However, the city was mostly void of people during the night. It was not that the people here slept early, no, far from it, most of the people residing here were researchers and sleeping early was never on the top of their to-do-list. In fact, Kratos thought that sleeping might very well be on the _bottom _of their to-do list, right under eating. That was also the reason why Kratos couldn't lie to Dist that he just came back very late during the night and was away early in the morning before Dist woke up.

_Sometimes I wonder if he had something similar to Cruxis Crystal equipped and is under the side effect of it, like how I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to and how I could never feel hungry and do not have to consume food to sustain life. _He sighed as he noticed the lack of sound from Dist's room, telling him that the occupant of the room hadn't come back yet, probably still in the lab.

He entered his own room in the inn and noticed a folded piece of paper on the bed even before he switched the light on and moved his hand to the hilt of his sword as he scanned over the room. Seeing no sign of any intruders, he switched on the light and went to check for any traps set up in the room. After he was sure there wouldn't be any unpleasant surprise for him, he picked up the note from the bed and read it.

Remday, Gnome-Decan 17, 0300, fountain behind Fon Machine Lab 4. 

Messenger from F.M.E.

_So whoever Evenos sent over couldn't risk being seen by others and had to break into the room. It seems they are also quite skilled. _Kratos thought as he recalled seeing the picked window lock when he checked the window and the fact that his room was on the third floor.

He ignited the note with a small fireball spell and watched as the note was engulfed in flames and burnt into ashes. He switched off the light after that and sat down on his bed and retired for the night to replenish his lost energy.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

So Kratos got a power-up in this chapter, I hope this doesn't sound too cliché... I also hope the fighting scene looks ok... it's my first time writing something like this... I played the Japanese version of the games and I'm a Chinese, so it is a bit weird when I had to write the names of the technique in English.

The techniques in this chapter:

Hurricane Thrust – _Fuujinken _風迅劍

Double Demon Fang – _Majinken Souga _魔神劍・双牙

Fierce Demon Fang – _Gou Majinken _剛・魔神劍

Light Spear – _Senkuureppa _閃空裂破

Guardian Field –_Shugohoujin_守護方陣

The incantations in this chapter:

"Sacred powers, cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls. Rest in peace, sinners! Judgement!"

"Try to resist the holy chains... Shining Bind!"

"Glitter of the supreme ruler, heed my voice, a prayer that spun to eternity. Shine, light of doom! Redeem all that defy thy will! Grand Cross!"

I didn't make up the incantation of Grand Cross myself. It is based on Colette and Tear's incantation of Grand Cross and I just modified part of it to make it more like something that Kratos would say if he was to cast the spell. For your information, here is Colette and Tear's incantation:

"Light of redemption that guides us to day break, listen to my voice. Holy prayers will be spoken for all eternity. Now, let there be light! Grand Cross!" - Colette

"Singing voice of the gods shinning on the evil crushing high heavens. _Singing of the sixth session of the Fonic Hymn. _Grand Cross!" - Tear

Oh, and F.M.E. stands for Fon Master Evenos.

_Uploaded on 22 July 2012. Edited on 4 April 2013._


	14. A New Addition

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; _Character remembering a past event/conversation_

- Gnomeday is equivalent to Sunday.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 13: A New Addition**

It was Gnomeday, Gnome-Decan 16, the third day since they arrived at Belkend and the sixth day since they left Daath. Dist didn't have experiments or research to do for the day and since Kratos told him that there was no need to work on the reverse seal yet and that he had already finished reading all the books in the local library he hadn't read before that interested him, he decided to go and look for Kratos and see how he's coping with the seal on his power. Little did he know that Kratos already had something else planned for him on his day off.

"Why must I, a genius scientist and mechanic, learn something as mundane as fighting? Besides, I can always create machines to fight in my stead."

Sighing inwardly in annoyance at the childish behaviour of his charge, Kratos began to unsheathe Last Fencer.

"Because..." and in a split second, he was standing directly in front of Dist with the tip of his sword resting less than a centimeter from his throat.

"Things like this are bound to happen sooner or later, especially when you hold the position of a soldier."

"Al- although I am officially known as an Oracle Knight, technically I'm just a researcher... researchers don't have to go to the front line, right? It's not as if Daath is in war and even if it is, I will just stay in the sideline doing experiments to create and improve the weaponry." Dist rebutted even though his voice was laced with fear due to the sword hanging too close for his comfort to his throat.

Sighing tiredly, Kratos slowly lowered his sword as he pondered his next words.

"How about the monsters? Don't tell me you have already forgotten about what happened three days ago?"

Dist winced at the mention of the accident three days ago where he nearly became monster food if not for Kratos.

"No, of course not, but you were there to rescue me." He protested.

"I won't be always there to save you."

"Bu-"

"At least learn some defending skill. You couldn't have wanted to always rely on others to look after you, could you?"

Dist winced again at the thought of always relying on others. That was what he had been doing before he left Malkuth and look where it got him.

"Fine, but what do I defend myself with?" He said after a long pause and stared at the blade in Kratos' hand with a resigned look.

"Do you have any preference over the type of weapon you want to wield?"

"Hmmm... a weapon that I like..." Dist rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Now that you mention it..." He trailed off and suddenly a look of glee was over his face. The change on him was so sudden that Kratos swore he could see an imaginary light bulb switched on somewhere over his head and he knew he was in for another headache as he saw the look on Dist's face.

"Yes! I am glad you asked. I remembered that I always liked reading stories about the imaginary beautiful creature known as Death God. How graceful they are when they swing their gorgeous weap-"

"Are you talking about a scythe?" Kratos asked, cutting off Dist's answer so he didn't have to start enduring his long speeches just yet.

"Hey, listen to me when I'm tal-" He paused at Kratos' look and continued with a calmer tone. "Um, yes, I am talking about a scythe."

"No, it is impossible for you to wield it." Kratos said flatly.

"What? Why? Are you saying there is another weapon that suits a beautiful genius like me more than a scythe does?" Dist whined.

Kratos sighed. "Appearance has nothing to do with it. Scythe is a heavy weapon and is difficult to wield. It requires much physical endurance and is difficult for even a soldier with _regular _training just to swing it around, let alone fighting with it."

"But Largo-"

"Are you really comparing yourself to him of all people?"

Dist had a horrified look on his face at Kratos' word. "No!t Of course I am not comparing myself to tha- that brute! I am just saying that I couldn't stand the thought of someone such as him wielding such a beautiful weapon when I cannot."

Kratos resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Dist's words. _Just think that I am dealing with a second Zelos... well, someone much worse than Zelos...but at least he isn't __wearing pink...yet..._

"I am referring to his physique, not his physical appearance. It doesn't matter what you think, you cannot wield a scythe, not with your current physical condition."

"... so the only reason I can't wield it is because it's too heavy?" Dist drawled after pondering the other man's word.

"That is the _main_ reason you can't wield it. Choose another one that is lighter and easier to use."

"... must I choose a weapon now? Can't we do it at a later time, say, next Loreleiday?"

"It is just basic defending skill, it is not as if you would be using that weapon for you whole life. You even said it yourself just now that you don't want to learn how to fight."

"Yes, I know. I just want to try something out first. I promise I will have a weapon ready by then." Dist waved his hand in a dismissal motion.

"Fine, suit yourself." Kratos said and sheathed his sword.

Not waiting for Kratos to start having second thoughts about letting him off so easily, Dist quickly changed the topic. "So where were you during the weekdays? I barely saw you in the city. Were you practising how to use the Seventh Fonon to cast spells? How is your progress controlling your new power?"

_Must he always fires so many questions at once? _"The reason you barely saw me was because you spent most of your time cooped up in the lab, not because I wasn't always in the city. And yes, I was mostly here working on my skills in manipulating it. Though it's still difficult, I think I'm getting the gras-" _Wait, that question...! Did he jus-_

"Ah ha! So it's true that you only just acquired this power! I knew something was wrong! I have been thinking about it since then, you shouldn't be able to use any Fonic Artes at all if you couldn't even feel the Fonon, and no monster came after us when you escorted me to Daath!_" _Dist exclaimed as he pointed at Kratos almost accusingly.

"_..." _Kratos glared at him.

_Evenos was right, although his personality is a bit extreme, he is indeed too smart for his own._

Dist flinched at Kratos' 'famous death glare'. He then held up his hand and sputtered, "I-I swear I wo-won't tell it to anyone else i-if you want to keep it a secret."

Kratos closed his eyes and sighed as he noticed Dist's nervousness at his glare and face-palmed. "I am not going to do anything to you if that's what you are thinking. And yes, I would appreciate it if you don't tell it to the others."

"Of course I won't tell it to others. After all, you decided to keep mine so I should also keep yours." Dist said as he visibly relaxed.

"Could I ask you a question?" Dist asked after a moment, curiosity plain on his face.

_I doubt it really is only ONE question. _Kratos resisted the urge to sigh or to say his thought out. _I guess it wouldn't hurt since he knew about it already and would have figured the rest out on his own... wait, why do I get the feeling of our role being reversed compared to when we were on the ferry?_

Taking Kratos' silence as permission, Dist began to ask his question. "So are you a pseudo Seventh Fonist?"

"If by pseudo you mean only having Seventh Fonon in my body recently, then yes."

"How?"

"It happened when I accidentally touched a fonstone."

"... what exactly happened when you touched it?"

"The fonstone glowed and a feeling of warmth spread within my body. I presume that Seventh Fonon was being passed into my body at that time."

Dist had a calculated look as he absorbed the information Kratos gave him. "When was it?"

"..."

"I would have thought that that was before our first encounter, seeing as how you used a Seventh Fonic Arte to heal me. But then there is also the question of why no monster came after us when we were in the forest near Mt. Roneal."

Dist narrowed his eyes at Kratos. "So I suppose it was after you dropped me off in Daath."

"..."

"I take it I'm correct then. So if you weren't a Seventh Fonist back then, how did you heal me?"

Dist sighed at Kratos' silence. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me now, but I swear I would get to the bottom of this."

He crossed his left arm in front of his midsection, rested the elbow of the other arm on his left hand and rubbed his chin with his right hand. "But how? It shouldn't be possible for someone who didn't have the inborn ability to use Seventh Fonon..."

"I want to know the answer to that myself. I've heard that attempts had been made to create a pseudo Seventh Fonist in the past but it failed when the subject underwent some permanent damage."

Dist nodded at Kratos' words and recalled the many side effects the experimental subjects of Fomicry suffered from when they decided to change the structure of the replicas to ones that were purely based on Seventh Fonon. "Neural contamination and Fonon mutation, sometimes the physical appearance of the subject will also be altered to suit the Seventh Fonon gathered in their body."

He looked at Kratos with concern. "Did you feel anything weird after you touched the fonstone? And I don't mean something like the feeling of warmth you just mentioned."

Kratos thought about it for a while before answering. "Nothing I am aware of."

"... could I have some blood sample? I could help you figure out what and how it happened to you."

Kratos became silent at the question. He wanted to know what exactly happened to his body. However, if he let the man before him run a blood test for him, he would find out some other things that he was not sure he wanted anyone on this planet to know.

"No."

"Pleeeease! I really want to know how it happened! Don't you want to know too? And it would be a breakthrough if I figure out how to create a pseudo Seventh Fonist without having them go crazy!" Dist whined.

"Don't make me repeat what I said." Kratos said with an air of finality.

"Bu-" Dist caught himself and did not finish his sentence as he saw the 'look' on Kratos.

"Fine, see if I care when something horrible happens to you." Dist stuck his tongue out at Kratos and stomped away.

A smile tugged at the corner of Kratos' lip as he stared at Dist's retreating back, once again amused at his childish display.

_It seems I don't have to worry about him telling others about this at the moment, not when he wants to be the one to take the credit of finding a way to ga__ther the __Seventh Fonon for those without the inborn ability to use it. And..._

"_I just want to trust a friend."_

_He sure is taking this 'friendship' seriously. I didn't want to think of it that way... but it's true that I'm manipulating him through his value of friendship._

"I will be here coming Loreleiday." He called out after Dist and, instead of resuming his own training on the manipulation of Fonon, he followed Dist back to Belkend.

"Stop following me!" Dist shouted at Kratos once he noticed the man following after him.

"I am not following you, this is the only path back to Belkend."

"Y-You!" Dist's face flushed a scarlet red as he pointed an accusing finger at Kratos. Then he let out a frustrated sigh that showed his irritation towards the red headed mercenary and, without saying another word, stomped towards the direction of the Fon Machine Labs. Kratos shook his head lightly and after that, he headed towards one of the local bars.

Although only a meeting time and place was written on that mysterious message he received three days ago, he figured there might be some other things going on in this city, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for secrecy for Evenos' messenger. He decided he would also do some digging up before meeting this mysterious messenger.

He didn't like the idea of not knowing what was going on if he could help it, and where else apart from bars could get him the most information? It also helped that today was Gnomeday when most workers would take a break from their work and most likely go to the bar to relax. He knew which bar would be the most crowded from his previous visit to Belkend and knew that that would be a good place to start.

When he entered the bar, it was already very crowded despite that there's still be another hour before the sun set. He went straight to the counter and ordered a beer from the bartender. After he took his beer, he found a secluded corner where he could observe all the customers that came to the bar and sat down there. One of the perks of equipping the Cruxis Crystal was that he could hear loudly and clearly what the others were talking about without needing to get too close to them. He started listening to the various conversations taking place and tried to pick out the 'interesting' ones as he pretended to nurse his beer.

"... that guy is the most annoying..."

"...a millionaire!" "Yeah, dream on, as if you could ever..."

"... you think I have any chance with..."

"... is your kid doing..."

"... could never figure it until... brilliant mind, if not for his..."

"... not going back tonight... not until she..."

"... least until we have a more clear instruction from-" "Shh! Are you mad? This isn't the place to talk about it!"

Kratos glanced over to the direction where that last conversation he picked up came from and saw three men huddling together in one of the corners. They looked to be in their twenties. There wasn't any distinctive feature that separated them from the others in the bar. All three looked soberer than most other occupants. Although each of them had a beer in front of them, all mugs were full, it was as if the three mugs of beer were just a cover for whatever they really came to do, like what Kratos was also doing.

"Hey, don't blame me, he is the one that started it." A black haired man said and pointed at the brown haired man sitting beside him.

"Don't point at me, I only asked if we should let him know about it." The brown haired man rebutted.

"Stop it! What are you, children? We have better things to do than hearing the two of you arguing like kids, especially about _this_. We will do whatever is required of us, nothing more, nothing less, so stop asking questions like that."

"Fine."

They started conversing about other daily matters after that. Kratos knew he wouldn't be able to hear anything more that sounded 'interesting' from the three of them. He started listening to the other conversations to see if he could pick out other 'interesting' ones while keeping an eye on the group.

About ten minutes later a man entered the bar. To be fair, many people came to the bar, the reason Kratos paid more attention to this man was that out of the corner of his eye he saw the brown haired man became rigid the moment this newcomer showed up. The newcomer was a bespectacled elderly person, Kratos judged that he was of similar age as Evenos. Another thing Kratos noticed was that this man did not _fit_ in the bar, not when he was wearing a laboratory coat. However, since most of the customers in the bar were already starting to get drunk, none noticed the out-of-place man or just didn't care.

The newcomer looked around the bar and started moving towards the direction in which the group of three were huddled up once he spotted them.

Before any of the men could say anything, the elderly man held up his hand and stopped any of their attempts to speak. "Follow me." He said and turned around, heading towards the entrance of the bar despite only just coming in less than thirty seconds ago. Without saying another word, the three men got up from their seats and followed him.

After a while, Kratos also stood up and left the bar. Once he was outside, he looked around and saw the group of four heading towards the direction of the Fon Machine Labs. He followed after them at a safe distance.

"Do you have it?" The leading man asked when they left the more crowded streets.

"Yes, V-"

"That's enough for now, you could tell me more later."

When they rounded a corner, he noticed another presence also tailing after those four. He slowed down his pace and took note of the other person that was doing the same thing as him and saw a girl with short dark hair. She was wearing all black, a suitable choice of clothing for stalking. A katana was strapped on her waist.

He couldn't see her face clearly as she was moving fast while blending into the shadows cast by the surrounding buildings in the setting sun. He only knew that she was a girl because of her slim figure that was tightly hugged by the dark skin-tight clothing. He had to applaud her speed and her skill at silent moving. Not exactly sure where this was going, Kratos decided to conceal himself from all the five people he was tailing after and decided to only make his presence known to the girl after he knew for sure that it was safe for him to do so.

"Hey, didn't you say that no one would be working now?" The black haired man questioned as they passed by Fon Machine Lab Two and saw lights coming from within the lab.

"I bet it's Dist, he is always in the lab doing whatever it was that pleases him." The elderly man said.

"Aren't you also like that? Being a scientist that obsesses over his research and all."

The now confirmed scientist sighed. "I would say he is a more extreme case."

"It doesn't matter what he is doing, but would he interrupt us?" The one who Kratos labelled as the more rational of the original group of three asked.

"I don't think he would leave anytime soon. Even if he does, it would be of little consequence. After all, he is also one of us." The scientist replied.

"Oh yes, about that, we were talking about whether we should also let him in on it too. Although I have heard about his temper and personality issue, it would be a great help if he was to also take part in this." The one Kratos labelled as the 'loudmouth' said.

"No, not yet. I haven't heard anything of the like from Van, though it wouldn't matter if he was to accidentally stumble upon it. It seems his coming to Belkend was not made known to him either, maybe I will ask him about it the next time I saw him."

"I thought you were told to drop it." The black haired man pointed out.

"I don't see any problem with just asking." 'Loudmouth' rebutted.

"Haven't you heard the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'?"

"That doesn't ha-"

"Drop it! Could the two of you stop arguing with each other for at least an hour?" 'Rational' hissed.

The scientist chuckled at the three young men following him. "Talk about nostalgic, it sure brought back memories."

The group became silent after that as they continued on to wherever their destination was.

_So much for this being a secret mission. I have to tell Evenos that Van would sooner or later learn of Dist's coming to Belkend. Though if these men here are working for Van, judging from their need for secrecy, it seems I have hit bull's eye. I wonder who it is that girl work for though? Is she an ally or enemy?_

Several minutes later, the four men that he and the girl were following after stopped before the back door of Fon Machine Lab One. The scientist took out a key card from his pocket, typed some password and opened the coded door. The door closed after the men got in.

Kratos saw the girl rushing over to the closed door and put her left ear against it. He could now see that the girl's hair colour was deep dark violet and she had a golden green right eye while her left eye was covered by an eye-patch. She looked to be in her early teens, probably around the age of fifteen, or maybe even younger if she was also making herself look older like Van was doing.

With his enhanced hearing, Kratos picked up the words coming from the other side of the door without moving an inch from his hiding place and exposing himself to the girl.

"I wonder how long it would take for this research to bear any fruit."

"Are you stupid or what? This is the most dangerous research I have ever heard of, we need to proceed with caution. And it was only started recently, at least another ten years would be..." The words faded out as the group got deeper into the lab and Kratos couldn't hear them talking anymore.

It seems that the girl also couldn't hear anything anymore as she sighed and straightened herself. Realising that nothing would happen unless he did something, Kratos stopped hiding his presence. The girl immediately noticed another presence in the vicinity and stiffened. She got into a fighting stance with her hands hovering over the hilt of her katana. However, once Kratos stepped out of the shadow to let the girl have a better look at him, she relaxed and dropped her fighting stance.

"Kratos Aurion?"

"Who is asking?"

"Cantabile, a Major serving in the Sixth Division of the Oracles." The girl replied.

"You are the one that sent the message." Kratos stated.

"Yes, I never imagined we would run into each other in such circumstance."'

"So the message you sent is related to this new and dangerous research. I take it that this experiment is not referring to Fomicry."

"We still haven't found out what this experiment is, only that Van claimed it as something the previous Grand Maestro ordered him to research on. It also seems that he has talked the newly appointed Grand Maestro, Mohs, into it and has his full support. Despite being the highest leader in the Order of Lorelei, even Evenos wouldn't be able to know about something that the Grand Maestro decided to keep from him." Cantabile explained. "How much did you hear?"

"I reckon about the same as you, I started following them when they left the bar." Kratos answered.

"Wait, you mean you have been following those three before that or you just suddenly decided you have to follow them when they left the bar? And were you also following after me?" Cantabile asked in a tone full of amazement.

"The latter. I picked up their... shady conversation from the bar when I was trying to do some investigation on my own. And yes, I was hiding my presence from you."

The violet haired Major whistled. "Fon Master Evenos had told me what to expect when he sent me on this mission and I thought he was exaggerating."

_What exactly did Evenos tell her about me? _Kratos raised an eyebrow at the girl's word. "I take it you followed the scientist."

"Yes, I saw him talking with Van in this city two days after Van was supposed to be sent on an 'official' mission to visit his sister. I reported it to Evenos after I got back to Daath and that's when he sent me on this mission."

"I see. What exactly is your mission?"

"I am to stay in Belkend to find out as much as I could about this research. I was also told to introduce myself to you while I'm here. Although I don't know the details, I supported Evenos' ideal to overthrow the Score. He told me about you and how you were also one of his supporters in it. I could tell that the Fon Master has high expectation of you and I would like to offer my help should you need it in the future."

"I will keep that in mind when the time comes."

Sensing that the more serious part of the conversation had ended, Cantabile decided to talk about something else. "So, I heard that you are babysitting Van's newest recruit."

Instead of confirming Cantabile's word, Kratos asked another question instead. "Have you met Dist before?"

"No, I was in a long-term mission away from Daath since before he joined, though I've heard bits and pieces of him when I reported to Evenos. He also told me a bit about him." Cantabile pulled a face as she recalled the conversation about a certain scientist between her and the Fon Master.

"I take it you don't like what you heard." Kratos commented, amused at the weird expression on the female soldier's face.

"Well, yeah. Evenos told me what happened when he ordered Dist to come to Belkend. I can't imagine anyone having the guts to yell at the Fon Master, nor could I imagine anyone in their right mind doing something like that... I mean, he always has this grandfatherly aura surrounding him that makes people _not _want to raise their voices at him. He is also the _highest leader _of the Order, how could he be so disrespectful towards his superior, didn't he think of the consequences before doing such things?"

At the word 'disrespectful', Kratos chuckled lightly as he remembered what Dist had told him about his former best friend and his most hated person when he was still in Keterburg. He could easily guess that the former best friend he was talking about was Jade Curtiss, and the other one that he called 'pea-brain' would have to be the Crown Prince of Malkuth, Peony Upala Malkuth.

"What is so funny?"

"Just remembering something Dist told me before, about how... _respectful_ he could get towards those he doesn't like. And yes, I agreed that he was disrespectful towards Evenos, but I can assure you that that wasn't his worst."

"Right." Cantabile said with a disbelieving tone and sighed. "I am not the type to judge others based only on a third party's opinion, but I trust Evenos when he told me about how unstable Dist could get."

She then shrugged. "Who knows, maybe my impression of him won't be as bad if I am to meet him in person. Anyway, I would leave it at that and I hope you can succeed in whatever you want to do with him."

Kratos nodded. "I will see you when you get back to Daath then, unless there is something else you require of me."

"No, not at the moment anyway. I would report my findings directly to Fon Master Evenos once I return to Daath." Cantabile nodded at Kratos one final time and left the area.

* * *

Despite Dist's anger at Kratos refusing his request, he had come to the fields outside Belkend to seek out his pseudo teacher come Loreleiday. In his hand was the weapon he promised Kratos he would bring with him to their session.

"So this is what you meant when you said you want to try something out? Brilliant, is what I would have said if you have also taken into account that the strength of it would also be significantly reduced." Kratos dead-panned as he looked at the large scythe Dist was holding with just one hand.

"No, it isn't what you are thinking." Kratos arched an eyebrow at the smug look on Dist that said 'I-know-something-you-don't.'

"Here." He threw the scythe over to Kratos who caught it with ease. His eyes widened slightly as he realised that the weapon was much heavier than he first thought when he saw Dist carrying it around without breaking a sweat.

_In fact, I think it's even heavier than a normal scythe. _"How?" Kratos asked as he swung the heavy scythe and slammed it down onto the ground, noticing how the weapon easily cut through the hard land as if cutting through warm butter.

"Oh that's easy, I just added a few glyphs of the Third Fonon to the weapon and adjusted it to my Fonon frequency so I can carry it around with ease while any other person handling it will feel the full weight of it." Dist looked at Kratos and the scythe next to him. "Though I am amazed at how easily you handled it, I made it to be much heavier than even the normal ones."

"I see, this will also stop others in their attempts to steal it from you. Clever."

The smug look returned to Dist's face at Kratos' compliment. "Of course, I am a beautiful genius after all."

Seeing Kratos' unimpressed look, the look on his face was replaced with nervousness. "The- there is also another ability I added to the scythe."

He walked over to the weapon in question and gripped the handle. A seal appeared underneath the scythe and in a split second, it shrank till it was no larger than a dagger.

"How is it?" Dist turned to his companion and asked with a smirk.

"If you want me to say I am impressed, then yes, I am impressed at your skill in Fontech. However, I will be more impressed if you could stop showing off so we could get to the lesson."

Ignoring Dist's flushed face and gaping mouth, Kratos told the man before him to enlarge his weapon again and take a defensive stance.

He knew the scientist had absolutely no idea how to fight, much less what a defensive stance looked like, so he told him to just take a stance in which he thought to be the most defensive and they would work from there. However, one look at Dist's sorry excuse of a defensive stance, Kratos knew that it would undoubtedly be a long time till Dist could become someone capable of defending themselves, much less a real soldier...

_Well, he was in reality just a researcher... but still..._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

splitheart1120: Yes, Kratos really needed that power boost if he was to survive and still be something like a war god in this fic.

Martel Irasia: Glad to know I gained another story follower^^ Hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

It may be a bit confusing as to why Kratos suddenly decided to train Dist in defending skill. Kratos had been a teacher of swordsmanship many times during his long life, it was also during those teaching sessions that Kratos taught his students not only skills in fighting, but also the ways of life... maybe that sounds weird... but you understand what I'm saying, right? Anyway, since Kratos decided to steer Dist away from his twisted goal to revive Nebilim, it would be easier to do so if he was to become something like his mentor.

About Dist using a scythe, well, you have to admit that there has got to be some reason he was known as Shinigami (Death God) Dist or Dist the Reaper after he became a God General. And another reason is that... I personally like the idea of someone wielding a scythe, really, I think it's cool. Too bad so far there aren't any Tales characters (the playable ones) that use a scythe as their weapon...

Did anyone guess that the messenger of Evenos is Cantabile? For those that don't know who Cantabile is, she is a character that was introduced in Tear's Story in Tales of Fandom Vol. 2. She was originally a God-General and was later replaced by Asch. By the way, some of the dialogues Kratos heard in the bar were referring to Dist.

_Uploaded on 31 July 2012. Edited on 7 April 2013._


	15. Conditions for Healing

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 14: Conditions for Healing**

"There is no way I could continue this lesson!" Dist sat down crossed-legged on the ground and whined.

_I knew he would say something like that... but only after ten minutes? _

"Giving up so soon? It seems I've overestimated you."

"Wha- who said I am giving up? I am simply resting! And it is just too difficult for an elegant scientist like me to do something like this, you said it yourself that my physical condition is far from that of a warrior." Dist protested.

"What happened to the determination of not wanting to rely on others to look after you?"

Dist sighed. "You are right, I really don't want to rely on others, that's what I decided when I came to Daath."

"Speaking of which, why Daath? Surely Kimlasca would die to have a top researcher like you working for them. You told me that's because Van offered you a place in Daath, but I doubt that is the real reason."

Kratos already knew the part about Van offering him a chance to continue his research on Fomicry, but he didn't think it was that simple. He was also not sure about how deep Dist was already in Van's plan, especially after hearing the part about Van hadn't thought of letting him in on this other research of his. He wanted to know if Dist's answer would have anything to do with the Score.

"It's because of Ja- that past friend of mine I have told you about. I know I am in jeopardy if I remain in Daath seeing as how it is supposed to be a neutral state and would gladly hand me over to Malkuth the moment my real identity is out. However, I chose Daath over Kimlasca also because of its neutrality."

Dist lowered his head and stared at the ground, the reflection on his glasses obscured his eyes, making it impossible for Kratos to tell what he's thinking.

"Even if Kimlasca welcomed me with open arms and agreed to let me continue my own research, I would one day be involved in a war with Malkuth and... I don't think I am ready to face him yet, especially not on battlefield. If I am in Daath, he can come anytime he wants."

"You want him to find you."

"I... To tell the truth, I am not sure what I want. One part of me is afraid of being found by him. I know him, the first thing he would most likely do is beat me to death or maybe just kill me in cold blood and drag my corpse back to Grand Chokmah or just throw it into the sea. On the other hand..."

He placed his palms onto the ground behind him and leaned back a bit, facing up towards the sky. A look of longing on his face.

"I want him to find me, it doesn't matter if I couldn't come out of it alive, I only want to know what he really feels about me leaving Grand Chokmah. I don't really mind stop researching the one experiment he told me to stop if he could just come and tell me what he really thinks about all this... about me... am I just a tool to him? One that he could throw away anytime he wants? That's what I thought when he crushed ou- my dream without so much as batting an eye."

He tilted his head a bit and his eyes were once again blocked by the reflection of light on his glasses. A bittersweet smile found its way to his lips.

"No, even before that I _knew _he only viewed me as a replaceable tool and personal slave, I just kept on denying it and thought that everything would be fine as long as he needs me." The smile then turned to a frown.

"I was under the delusion that he would one day view me as his equal if I subjected myself to his every whims. But no, he couldn't even be bothered to tell me personally before the public announcement of the ban on Fomicry was made!"

He scowled and started to raise his voice, his nails dug into the dirt beside him. Kratos could hear the anger in his tone as he continued to speak.

"I hate him! I have always thought of him as my best, no, _only_ friend no matter how twisted this _friendship_ was! He... he was the only one that understood what I was always talking about, the only one I could share my concepts and theories with without being viewed as a _freak_ that only sprouts gibberish!"

His shoulders sagged after his outburst and he returned to his previous posture of facing the ground before him.

"But it's difficult to keep on hating him, not when I have spent nearly my whole life clinging to his every words. No, I think that instead of him, what I really hate is... myself. I hate the me that only knew how to live by his words, the me that had more than once thought of crawling back to him and wanting him to find me and wanting to know what he would say and do to me even after what he did to me."

He pushed himself up and smoothed the wrinkles from his clothes and proceeded to removing the dirt on his hands and pants.

"Although I like my original name, I am also grateful when Van told me I needed to change my name. It is like I could have a new start, a new life where I wouldn't be under his influence anymore. I want to show him what I am capable of even without him by my side, always ordering me to do this and that."

He started walking over to the scythe he struck in the ground when he started his tantrum.

"Yes, that part of me want him to come to me and tell me what really is on his mind, but I also understand that even if he comes, he won't do anything of the sort... I don't want to fight him, I know I could never win against him. That's why instead of fighting physically, I will wage a mental warfare against him, no, mental is the wrong choice of word since I could never compare to him in that aspect either..."

He stood beside his weapon and placed his hand on its handle. "Do you know why I choose the name Dist? He once asked me if I thought he was a distorted person. I didn't understand why he asked such a weird question at that time, and even now I still don't think I fully understand his motive."

He narrowed his eyes and gripped the handle of the scythe so hard that his knuckle was turning white.

"But one thing I do know is that he thought of me, one that continues clinging onto a foolish dream and would stop at nothing to fulfil it, as a distorted person! If that's what he thinks, then I will show him just how distorted I could be! I will make him regret abandoning our dream, no, abandoning _me_!"

Madness washed over his being as he turned to face his red haired companion and Kratos noticed a glint of insanity in his eyes.

"I would succeed the one thing he thought of as impossible! And once I succeed, _he_ would be the one crawling back to _me_ begging my forgiveness!" There was a twisted smile on Dist's lip when he finished his declaration.

_So it has nothing to do with the Score. It seems that his real motive behind wanting to continue the research of Fomicry is not to revive his dead teacher, but to establish his value to Jade... no... he avoided talking about Nebilim during this little outburst of his, I can't come to that conclusion yet. _

The look on Dist slowly returned to normal as he calmed down. He pulled the scythe from the ground and said, "I have rested enough and we can resume our lesson now."

_I'm glad he's willing to tell me something like this, at least this way he could release some of his pent up frustration. But..._

"_... _does his opinion really matter that much to you? Even after you said you want to live a new life and step away from his shadow?_" _Kratos muttered, then he continued in a louder voice so Dist could hear what he was saying. "Is that the real reason?"

"Wha-"

"I was a teacher to many others before you. Every time someone came to me with the intention to be my student, I ask them why they want to become stronger. You told me you want to stop relying on others, but is that the real reason?"

"Of course that's the real reason! Why else would I ever think of doing anything that even remotely resembles manual labour?" Dist frowned, not understanding why Kratos would think otherwise.

A tiny smile laced Kratos' lips at Dist's reply. "Think about what you told me just now and tell me your answer when you are ready." He sheathed his sword and started walking towards the direction of Belkend.

"Wha-? Aren't we continuing our lesson? And _you _are the one that asked me to learn some defensive skills, not the other way round!"

Kratos paused in his steps and tilted his head towards Dist's direction. "No, we will do it at a later time, you are too emotional right now. Although I am the one that talked you into it, I want you to fully understand why it is that you agreed to learn from me and still haven't given up on it yet considering how much you hate manual labour first."

He then left the area, leaving Dist behind to think about what just transpired.

_I know his answer won't be something as grand as Mithos' 'to end this meaningless war', Lloyd's 'you can't blame others for their weakness, that's why I need to become stronger for them' nor Luke's 'to protect the ones dear to me'. In fact, I am sure his answer will be more like Zelos' 'to prove my existence', but at least it will be a start._

* * *

Kratos was once again waiting for his charge to show up in the fields outside Belkend the next day. He was practising his own swordsmanship when he heard someone coming from behind him. He sheathed his sword and waited for the other person to come closer and noticed that the footsteps were too light to be Dist's.

"I heard that you and Dist are leaving tomorrow?"

Kratos turned around and faced the girl standing behind him. "Evenos wants to make sure that we are back before Van return to Daath, but we both know that this trip will be reported to him by one of his subordinates anyway."

Cantabile sighed. "Yeah, a shame really, after all the documents Fon Master Evenos had to go through just to conceal Dist's visit to Belkend."

"What are you doing here? I doubt it is just to say goodbye."

"Nah, Spinoza isn't doing anything today, his grandchildren came to visit him, so I sort of got a day off today." Cantabile replied and started doing some stretching exercise.

"The scientist?"

"Yes, Spinoza is one of the lead researchers here. His expertise are mathematics and physics."

"I see."

"Well, since I have a day off today, I want to do some exercise. I am not allowed contact with the others in Belkend, so here I am."

"I take it your 'exercise' means engaging others in physical combat."

"So what do you say?" Cantabile stopped stretching and grinned at Kratos as she asked the question.

_Dist probably won't come today, and even if he comes, I would know before he could see Cantabile._

"If you are worrying about Dist coming, he won't. I saw him cooping himself up in that lab he is always spending time in earlier when I went to check if Spinoza would be working today."

"Fine. It is also a long time since I last had a training partner."

Cantabile's smile widened. Then, without any warning, she rushed towards Kratos while unsheathing her katana. She closed the distance between her and Kratos in a split second and swung her blade at Kratos in a downward slash. Kratos brought up his shield to block the katana and heard before saw Cantabile's sword sheath coming at him from his right. He pushed his shield upward so that both his shield and the blade of Cantabile's katana were above their heads. With their weapon and shield still engaged, he turned around and partly unsheathed his own sword to stop the wooden sheath from hitting his waist while kicking backwards, his heel aimed at Cantabile's stomach. However, Cantabile did a backward somersault to dodge his kick even before her sword sheath could make contact with Kratos' blade.

She sheathed her sword and did three more backward somersaults to lengthen the distance between them before landing on the ground. She looked up and just in time to see Kratos less than a meter from her, his sword fully unsheathed and ready to strike. "Void Tempest!" She drew her sword from the sheath in a quick motion and continued swinging her sword arm until it was on her right, her sword slashing horizontally creating a wide arc before her. Kratos jumped high into the air to dodge the powerful slash.

"Hell Pyre!" He slashed his sword upward diagonally and tossed a flaming projectile towards Cantabile while still airborne. Cantabile dodged to the right and before Kratos landed on the ground, she stepped onto the spot that was just hit by the flaming projectile. "Infernal Torrent!" Cantabile's katana was engulfed in flames when she brought the tip of her blade to the ground and did an upward slash, creating a large wave of fire before her just as Kratos entered her attack range and still in midair. Kratos brought up both of his arms in a defense position. "Guardian!" A translucent green sphere force field surrounded Kratos just as he was hit by the wave of fire.

Cantabile jumped back and watched as the smoke produced by her fire cleared. However, she didn't expect Kratos to suddenly emerge from the smoke rushing at her and thrust his sword forward. She quickly brought her katana up in a diagonal position before her with both hands and let the tip of Kratos' sword collide with her blade. "Lighting Blade!" A small bolt of lighting hit Cantabile from above and electricity surged through her as Kratos yelled out the words. She staggered backwards several steps then started skipping backwards till she was outside Kratos' immediate attack range and shook her head a bit to clear the tingling feeling.

"Center!" A green glow appeared somewhere near Cantabile's midsection and healed some of her injuries from Kratos' previous technique. Just as she finished her recovery technique, Kratos swept his leg across the ground where Cantabile was standing on. Not having enough time to dodge the attack, Cantabile was swept off her legs and fell backwards towards the ground. She started rolling towards her right once her back touched the ground. She stopped rolling seconds later and pushed herself up with her left hand that was still holding onto the sheath of her katana.

"Still want more?" Kratos asked and raised one eyebrow at the shaky figure that was still catching her breath before him.

"I haven't surrendered yet! Demon Fang!" Cantabile once again lowered the tip of her weapon to the ground and performed an upward slash and a blue ground projectile came gliding towards Kratos. She rushed towards Kratos after the blue projectile. Kratos sidestepped the Demon Fang. "Tiger Blade!" Cantabile did another upward slash at Kratos, who blocked it using his shield, while jumping up into the air and turned a full circle while still airborne. Then, using momentum, she followed her attack with a final powerful downward slash. Kratos used his sword to parry the attack, a loud clang was resounded when the two weapons hit, momentarily stunning Cantabile.

"Victory Light Spear!" While Cantabile was still suspended mid air, Kratos spiralled into the air while being surrounded by a trail of light. Cantabile couldn't dodge or defend in time and was caught up in the spiral. Kratos finished his attack with a powerful horizontal slash while airborne. Cantabile brought up her katana to block the slash just in time but she was still blown away from the force of the attack and lost her grip on her weapon. She crashed to the ground a few meters away and when she tried to get up, the tip of Kratos' sword was already pointing at her throat, a mere hair's breadth from touching her skin.

"I surrender." Cantabile said with an uneven breath. Kratos removed his sword and Cantabile got into a sitting position while busily catching her breath.

"You are good. I haven't had such an exciting fight in a while already." She said after she recovered most of her breath.

"You aren't bad yourself either. In fact, it's been a while since I saw someone your age handling their weapon so well."

"Thanks. But I noticed you were still holding back much..." Cantabile trailed off as she took in Kratos' undamaged form and noticed he wasn't even breathing hard nor was he breaking any sweat.

"I have a lot of experience in fighting."

"Right... I only started training five years ago... so when did you start to learn how to use a sword?" Cantabile asked.

"I think when I was about six, or maybe even younger. It was a long time ago and I couldn't remember the exact time."

Cantabile sighed at Kratos' answer. "Seems it would still be ages till I can get close to you."

"You have no idea." Kratos muttered under his breath so Cantabile wouldn't be able to hear his words.

Cantabile pushed herself up after a while and went to retrieve her katana and sheath that were blown away by Kratos' last attack and landed in different locations.

"Hey, can we spar again sometime later, say, after I return to Daath?"

"I can't make myself known to Van yet. However, I could also use a sparring partner to keep my skill from being too rusty if we managed to find a place to spar without anyone noticing."

"Good. I know of the perfect secret spot somewhere outside the city where we could continue training. I am glad you agreed to spar with me even though I am obviously nowhere near your level yet. I bet I could become even stronger than Van in just a few more years." Cantabile said as she picked up her wooden sheath from the ground and went over to her katana.

"You are a friend of Van?"

"Well, yes, I _was_ a friend of his. Like him, I am also a survivor from Hod. Evenos rescued me when I was washed on the shore near Daath and helped me get over my grief. That's why I am loyal to him. Van had subtly hinted that he could use my help. I didn't outright tell him of my thought on the matter, but he stopped trying to recruit me after I was promoted to Major in the Sixth Division under the Fon Master's recommendation." Cantabile picked up the blade and sheathed it.

"So, ready for a second round?" A sly smile was on her face as she turned towards Kratos.

"Whenever you are."

* * *

"So the reason you want to become stronger was because you want to help Evenos with his ideal?" Kratos asked the girl that was sitting on a huge rock catching her breath. It was nearly six hours since they started their sparing session and Cantabile was thoroughly exhausted.

"Partly. Van was once my friend and it hurts to see him drown in hatred and steer towards the wrong path, so you could say that I want to stop him also for my own reasons, not entirely because of Fon Master Evenos. I also want to become stronger so I won't have to undergo the pain of seeing my fri-" She stopped herself from finishing her sentence and lowered her head.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to pry." Kratos said with an apologetic tone as he noticed the trembling fist by Cantabile's side.

"No, that's fine, I was the one opening my big mouth anyway." Cantabile looked up from the ground and offered Kratos a weak smile.

Kratos decided to change the topic and asked Cantabile about her mission. "So how is your investigation going?"

"Not much." Cantabile shrugged. "They weren't doing much during the weekdays. I guess it's because they don't want others to notice it. Spinoza is very cautious and stores all his data in a room with a coded door that requires a card key, a password and a retina scan. Though I heard that it was something about the Fonon of Sound when I tailed after him and heard his conversation with some other people yesterday." She paused and looked at Kratos. "So how's things with Dist?"

"He isn't that difficult to handle once you understand how his brain works."

"You understand? Only after less than two weeks?"

"He isn't hard to read, and I have experience dealing with his type."

"Hmmm... seems being a mercenary has it's perks. But from what I gather, you are quite a stoic person and could be at times a bit 'cold', it is just a bit hard to imagine the two of you doing fine when in the other's presence."

Kratos smiled at Cantabile's description of him, looking amused. "You aren't the first one to think of me like that, and I doubt you would be the last." He paused and pondered his words. "And if you ask me, I think that's also one of the reasons I can have a normal chat with Dist." He drawled as he recalled Dist's description of his former friend, the 'cold-hearted four-eyed snake', Jade Curtiss.

"You mean 'somewhat' normal, right?" Cantabile dead-panned.

"Anyway, enough about this." She said and stretched her body.

"I had enough decent exercise for the day and am going to have a stroll before going for a shower to wash away my fatigue. You?"

Kratos looked at the sky and noticed that the sun was starting to set. "We are leaving Belkend early tomorrow morning. I am going to see if Dist is still working in the lab. I might have to drag him back to the inn and force him to eat and rest so he could have enough strength for tomorrow."

"Aww, you are such a good and responsible babysitter." Cantabile cooed then snickered at Kratos.

Kratos sighed. "Someone has to look after him to keep him from collapsing due to overwork."

* * *

All Kratos could hear was the sound of buzzing from the various fon machines once he entered the lab to search for the always working scientist. He found Dist hunched over a bench in the only lit workshop in the whole building. He called out to Dist from the door, not wanting to scare him too much by standing behind him. However, his call was ignored by the much concentrated scientist as he continued to work on whatever he was working on when Kratos entered the room.

Kratos walked over to the bench and stopped when he was directly behind Dist. He hesitated, thinking of a way to make his presence known without scaring the hell out of him, understanding how easily scared the man was. In the end, he found no alternatives – well, he could think of many other ways, but those would likely scare the man to death – and decided on the straightest approach.

"Dist."

"Woah! What!?" The scientist shot up with a high pitched yelp and turned around to see who was calling him. However, his turn was too sudden that he misplaced his foot just as he caught a glimpse of red and purple behind him. He knocked down the chair he was just sitting on and fell backwards. He landed on his bottom with a loud thud, his glasses askew as he looked up to the red and purple blur standing before him.

Kratos sighed as Dist fixed his glasses and once again looked up to the red and purple blur, finally seeing who it was.

"Kratos! Why are you here? How did you enter the lab?" Dist asked with a confused look as Kratos helped him up.

"I am taking you back to the inn, and the window wasn't locked."

"Why? I'm still working."

"Order's work?" Kratos questioned as he took note of the entangled wires Dist were working on that were connected to the back of a... chair?

"Well... no... "

"Then you are going back with me now. We are leaving early tomorrow morning, do you have any idea what time it is now?"

Dist looked up to the only window in the lab and took note of the time. "It is night-time already!?"

"And just past dinner time, too. I noticed you were always skipping your meals in favour of your projects. However, you can't afford to skip dinner today if we are to travel to Port Belkend tomorrow morning."

"But if I-" Dist paused and sighed. "Fine, at least let me save my data first."

Dist went to a nearby computer and typed at a very fast speed on the keyboard, sometimes pausing and looking back at the bunch of wires and the back of the chair before continuing typing. He finished typing after a while and a Fon Disc was ejected from the computer. He pocketed the Fon Disc and went over to the chair and pulled a bunch of _things_ out from the back of it. That bunch of _things _turned out to be numerous wires entangling together forming a sphere-looking mess. He skilfully disentangled the wires revealing a silver sphere in the centre. He pocketed the device and turned to Kratos.

"Okay, we can go now."

Just before they exited the Fon Machine Lab, Dist remembered something Kratos said. "Where's the window you came through, I need to lock it before we left. What do the security guards think they were doing leaving a window unlocked anyway? Didn't they know how valuable the data and machines stored in the lab are? They are lucky that the one who sneaked in isn't a thief." He scrowled.

"I already locked it after I came in. As I have said, we are leaving early tomorrow morning, so I don't think you have the time to complain to the security guards." Kratos did not want to let Dist know that the unlocked window was on the _third_ floor.

"Fine. They are lucky this time that I am leaving tomorrow, otherwise I would have them remember the importance of locking all the doors and windows of a lab." Dist huffed.

* * *

"Hey, Kratos, I don't get it. What do you want me to understand?_" _Dist asked after they left the building and were walking back towards their inn.

"You'll have to figure it out yourself. I can't help you with that."

Dist frowned at Kratos' reply. "Why? You told me my real reason is not to stop relying on others but something else, why can't you just tell me what it is if you already know? And why do you think you know what I am really thinking, something that even _I_ don't know?"

"Because it would help you understand yourself more, and you already told me your answer, you just weren't aware of it yet."

"Of course I understand myself, I am not a child! And what do you mean I already told you my answer? When was it?" He furrowed his brow.

"I know you aren't a child and are fully capable of understanding yourself, but sometimes even adults have trouble understanding what they really want. Think back to our conversation yesterday, you should be able to find the answer yourself."

"I have been thinking about it the whole night already! I told you about my reason for choosing Daath over Kimlasca, but what does it have to do with my reason for learning defending skill?"

Kratos decided to at least give him a hint. "What about afterwards?"

"Afterwards? After that, I told you about..." Dist trailed off as he recalled their conversation yesterday and started shaking his head as he realised what Kratos was hinting at. "... no..."

"What is it?"

"No... why would you think it has anything to do wi- with _him_? As far as I am concerned, this has _absolutely_ nothing to do with him! I am doing this so I could... could... no... that's not true... I-I refuse to acknowledge it! There's no way I am doing this because of _him_! I swore to myself after I changed my name that my new life will have nothing to do with _him_!" Dist nearly shouted, denial apparent on his face.

"However, you also told me you are doing all this just so he would think of coming back to you." Kratos said flatly.

"That's..."

"What did you tell me about the reason you chose the name Dist?"

"I..." Dist's shoulder sagged and continued, "Even after all this, I still can't escape him, can I?"

"Yes, you can, you are just heading towards the wrong direction."

"... but what if I don't want to? You are right, I don't understand myself, not at all... I told you I want to step out of his shadow... but even you can tell that I am still living a life under his influence... it seems I just can't make up my mind when it comes to him."

"Is he the only reason for you to continue your research?"

"No! Of course he is not the reason... argh! I am not sure what my motivations are anymore! I mean, I wanted to revive Nebi-" He stopped abruptly and placed his hands in front of his mouth and widened his eyes at Kratos.

"I mean- that's not-"

"It's fine, I told you your secret is safe with me."

"You- you knew about it!?"

"Not the whole story, but I guess anyone could figure from your little outburst yesterday that you are continuing _that _research." Kratos shrugged.

"So-"

"Now is not the time to talk about it. You can tell me about it later if you want, when we are on the ferry back to Daath." Kratos said, cutting Dist off, as they neared the inn they were staying in.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

splitheart1120: If by dangerous you are referring to how Dist knew about Kratos' pseudo Seventh Fonist status, then I would say the real person he needed to be wary of wasn't Van, but Mohs...

Seri3991: Thanks for your review! There may not be a look-alike Anna, but hope you could enjoy the rest of the story^^

A side note about Dist's mental stability: I always think that although he and Jade were known as the twin genius, Dist was the one with a more advanced mind, that's why I think he was more susceptible to insanity than Jade (well, Jade was born insane but understand that he needed to learn to be a better person, while Dist was born ok, if not a bit too shy and dependent on others, but was pushed to insanity during his growing up). There is a scene in the game in which Jade said he was not familiar with fon machines as he only came up with the theories and it's Dist who constructed the machines based on his theory. Dist had to understand what Jade's theories were about and make those theories into reality, and don't forget he had also got his own theories on many other things. That's why I think Dist was more of a genius than Jade was and that it was more difficult for him to accept the others, like Peony, than Jade... please excuse my ranting... I just want to get this out...

It was never mentioned in the game, manga nor anime about Zelos' motivation to become stronger (at least not to my knowledge). Zelos' mother died because of him and her last words were 'if you were never born' and that she hated him. Zelos' sister also hated him guts, or at least that's what he believed at the time. There is also the fact that since he was Tethe'alla's Chosen, he never really had a say in his own life. Therefore, I think Zelos would have wanted to do anything to prove his existence to others.

About Dist's name, it originally comes from the word 'dissonance'. In fact, all the God-Generals, except Asch, were named/renamed such that their names were related to musical terms (Largo, Allegretto, Dissonance, Aria, Syncopation and Cantabile). However, for the sake of this fiction, I changed it to 'distortion'.

Cantabile's fighting style was Sigmund Style, the same as Guy. I am also making her to be the same age as Van, which means she's fourteen in this chapter.

The techniques in this chapter:

**Void Tempest** – _Shinkuuhazan_ 真空破斬

**Hell Pyre – **_Gurenken_紅蓮剣

**Infernal Torrent – ** _Maou Engekiha_ 魔王炎撃波

**Guardian** – _Suigojin _粋護陣

**Lighting Blade** – _Raijinken_ 雷神剣

**Center –** _Shuukihou _集気法

**Demon Fang** – _Majinken _魔神劍

**Tiger Blade** – _Kogahazan _虎牙破斬

**Victory Light Spear** – _Senkuu Shoureppa_ 閃空衝裂破

I don't know if anyone notice, Cantabile was only using Base Artes (特技 – Tokugi) and the FOF changes of them. She was also someone in training to better their swordsmanship and it would be weird if she knew all the Artes of the Sigmund Style when she was only 15.

_Uploaded on7 August 2012. Edited on 7 April 2013._


	16. Promises that Can Never be Realized

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; _Character remembering a past conversation_

- Sylphday is equivalent to Friday

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 15: Promises that Can Never be Realised**

In Yulia City, an underground city that seemed to always be at night, it was almost impossible for flowers to bloom, what with the main ingredient for photosynthesis, sunlight, missing. However, in order to let his little sister, the three year old sweet girl that never once had the chance to know what real flowers look like, except from pictures, before being ripped away from the brighter world that was known as the Outer Land, to appreciate the real beauty of flower, Van had searched through books with information on flowers and had found the species that was the most suitable to be grown in Yulia City.

Before Van came back to his home in Yulia City, he made a detour to Belkend to discuss with Spinoza about various matters, one of them being this night-blooming flower, Selenia, the only flower that could grow in the Qliphoth. No, Spinoza didn't know about Yulia City or Qliphoth, he had just accidentally stumbled upon Van reading books on gardening and was told that Van wanted to find flowers that could bloom during night.

Van was surprised when Spinoza told him that his daughter-in-law had interest in gardening and might be able to help him with it. How glad he was when Spinoza's daughter-in-law indeed knew about night-blooming flowers and taught him how to replant them. That's why the backyard of the house of the family of Fende was now full of the flower buds of Selenia.

One of the activities Van had when he came home, apart from home-tutoring and playing with his little sister, was going to the garden to look after the would-be flowers at the same time teaching Tear about gardening.

"Look big bro! That flower over there is... is opening!" Tear exclaimed and pointed at said flower while her other hand tugged on Van's sleeves.

"The flower is blooming." Van lightly chided.

"Um... 'kay, it is blo- bloming!" Becoming impatient, Tear gave a final tug at Van's sleeve with as much force as she could muster and skipped over to the flower that just bloomed.

A smile made it's way to Van's lips as he shook his head at Tear's poor pronunciation and impatience and trailed after his little sister.

"Wooow... what a pretty flower!" Tear gasped as she knelt before the Selenia and closely inspected it.

"It's a Selenia. That's the one and only flower that blooms in the Qliphoth."

"But it looks like it's not very perky."

"Hmmm... was it a bad idea to replant it?" Van brought a hand to his chin and stood in a thoughtful position behind Tear.

"Is it gonna die?" From her kneeling position, Tear turned her head and looked up at her brother with what could only be described as huge puppy eyes with a hint of moisture.

"It might..."

"I feel so sorry for it! Cheer up, Mr. Flower!" Tear turned back to the flower and placed her hands on the sides of the flower in a cupping motion, as if to support it. Suddenly, the flower was enveloped in a green glow. Tear and Van could see the flower went from dipping towards the ground to fully erect under the glow. When the light extinguished, the flower looked as good as new.

"Tear!" Van's eyes widened at the display of power by his sister.

"Look, big bro! The flower got all lively!" Tear exclaimed. A huge smile on her face as she looked at the blooming flower that looked even more beautiful than before.

"I see... So like me, you've also got the makings to use the Seventh Fonon."

"Sebbenth?" Tear stood up and looked at her brother. She tilted her head slightly to her right as she did her best imitation on the new word she just learned and still didn't understand.

"The Seventh Fonon. It's a special power that only the chosen ones have. It means you're the same as me, Tear." Van knelt down before Tear so that their eyes were at the same level and placed his hand over Tear's heart as he explained.

"Really?" Tear's already huge eyes became even bigger at her brother's words and looked at Van with great anticipation.

"Really. If you can freely master the Seventh Fonon, you can be helpful to other people. That's why you need to raise it carefully." Van smiled at Tear as he answered.

"Then I'll help big brother with my Sebbenth Fomoms!"

"Help me...?" Van's smile faltered a bit as his eyes lost focus for the briefest moment before looking slightly confused at Tear.

"Someday, I'm gonna join the Orickles just like you. Then I'll always be with you, big bro, and I'll help you. 'kay?" Tear, without noticing the slight hesitation in Van, continued smiling towards the big brother she loved with all her being.

"I see... Yes, I understand. I am looking forward to it." Although unnoticeable to the little girl before him, Van's smile was replaced by a sadder smile as an image of an older Tear working in the Order of Lorelei and fell victim to the Score as the countless people on Auldrant, including himself, did flashed through his mind.

_I don't want to involve you into any of this. It would still be a long time before I could carry out the plan, I just hope I could stall you from joining the Oracles, from knowing the truth behind this ugly world where everyone and everything were shackled by the curse known as the Score, before I could find a way to erase it. But at the same time... I don't want to disappoint you... I don't want to be the one to put tears on your face._

"It's a promise, big brother."

"Yes, a promise." _I hope you could forget this promise someday in the future. If you didn't... I could only pray that you won't hate me for 'forgetting' this promise and... for doing what I plan to do._

* * *

_I never thought tailing after people could be sooo booorrring! I can never understand the mind of stalkers..._

It was four days after Kratos and Dist left Belkend and five days since Cantabile last saw some actions. Five days of following after Spinoza and 'supervising' the various boring (at least to Cantabile) experiments being conducted by him. Not even a glimpse of anyone suspicious entering the labs to chat with her target. She had thought of randomly going to a local bar and tried picking up any shady conversations like Kratos did, but no, her hearing skill wasn't as good as Kratos (which she still thought impossible for a normal human to hear the conversations taking place within the lab a _few meters outside_ the thick walls of the building), not to mention she would once again be bored to death if she were to just sit in a bar for a whole day waiting for something she wasn't sure would come at all. And thus led to her current predicament, hiding behind a closed door listening to the silly arguments carried out by the 'senior' researchers in the next room.

_Though I am glad Evenos gave me such a top secret mission, he could have sent me to a more action-required mission than this._

It was about half an hour later that the 'mature' bunch of scientists finished their heated argument and went on their own work. Inwardly patting herself on the back for having the patience to endure such a long and boring argument without falling asleep, Cantabile once again moved to secretly follow Spinoza as he left the room. It wasn't easy to move undetected within a much crowded building, but to Cantabile, it wasn't exactly hard either. She had always been looking forward to the time when Spinoza moved to another room so she could at least do something and not just standing still and eavesdropping on things she would never be able to comprehend. Sadly, being a scientist meant that Spinoza rarely moved to a new room, not when he was content with spending time in front of the same computer or work bench working on Lorelei knows what for however long he wanted to.

Realizing that her target was making a beeline towards one of his favorite labs, Cantabile inwardly groaned at the thought of remaining in the same room for the rest of the day while waiting hopelessly for something interesting to happen or whenever Spinoza had the mind to go do other things. However, the goddess of luck seemed to shine on her today as someone walked suspiciously close to Spinoza when he passed by and Cantabile could see the man passing a note to him the moment their shoulders nearly touched. Spinoza then changed direction and started heading towards the male's toilet.

_Oh my goodness... should I just wait outside like the other times? But what if whatever that is written on that note is very important? What to do... should I... go in? _Cantabile was aghast at the thought of her going into the male toilet. Now don't get her wrong, she understood that as a spy, there were many places she needed to go to, no matter how she disliked it. However, she was only thirteen years old and there were just places, like the male's toilet, that she didn't feel like going into.

While the minuscule war was still waging within Cantabile's mind, Spinoza had already entered the toilet.

… _oh well, it isn't that I don't wanna go in... it's just that I couldn't go in now without alarming whoever is inside the toilet... yes, I will just wait here... _Satisfied with the reason _- excuse -_ she came up with, Cantabile settled in a hidden spot outside the toilet and waited.

Whatever was written on the note was sure to be short, for it was less than a minute when Spinoza exited the toilet.

_Phew. So I didn't miss much._

Spinoza went back to the lab he was originally going to and started working. All Cantabile could do was resigned to her fate of another few hours of waiting once she saw Spinoza stationed himself before one of the computers in the room. Since it was Sylphday, most workers and researchers decided to leave at around the original designated time to spend more time with their friends and family and not stay in the lab for much longer than required. However, Spinoza just kept on working well into the night, not even showing any sign of wanting to leave after he was the only one (technically speaking, Cantabile was also there) left in the lab.

At about ten past nine, Cantabile heard footsteps resounding from outside the room and was getting louder and louder. Spinoza stopped his work when someone knocked on the door and got up to answer it. The door opened to reveal none other than Van Grants.

_What is he doing here? Shouldn't he still be on official holiday or whatever it is called? _

"Ah, you're early. I thought you would come at a later time." Spinoza said.

"I noticed the others already went home and decided to come earlier. So did that help with the research?"

"It's too early to say anything, though the data we acquired from it is astonishing, we haven't had the time nor the space to move the experiment to the second stage. Also, from what you told me before, we still need a subject if we are to know if it really helps or not. The power it outputs might not be as powerful as the one you told me about."

"It should be fine, Dr. Neis made it himself. If anything_,_ I would say the power it outputs might become too large and you may need to find a way to tone it down."

Spinoza's eyes rounded. "What!? You talking about Dr. Saphir Wyon Neis!? The genius that designed th-"

"Yes, the same one." Van interrupted a bit impatiently.

"But how? Last I heard he disappeared from Grand Chokmah!"

"Let's just say I have my own method."

"... does it have anything to do with Dist?"

Van raised an eyebrow at the question. "Why would you think it has anything to do with him?"

Spinoza rubbed the goatee that was growing on his chin. "He's too brilliant to be some random person that just suddenly pops out of nowhere."

"It's best that you don't dwell on it too much." Van said and dismissed the subject.

"... fine. Speaking of Dist, he came to Belkend a few weeks ago, he just left earlier this week."

Van frowned lightly. "What was he doing here?"

"No idea, though I heard he was always frequenting Fon Machine Lab 2. You know how that lab was for domestic inventions, don't you? My guess is that it has something to do with being ordered by some higher ups to come and overlook some of the experiments being conducted there."

There was a moment of silence as Van digested the information. "Did you tell him about that research?"

"No, I know he is also one of us, but it seems to me he had no idea about it."

"Good. Keep it at that, I don't want him to know about this research too soon."

"Is there any specific reason?"

"I want to keep him focused on another project I gave him to do. Also, he's only working with us due to mutual benefit, so I don't want him to know too much yet. Though I may have you help him out with his project later."

Spinoza furrowed his brow at the thought of abandoning a project he was doing. "What about this one?"

"Once I get a higher position I would be able to come more freely and would personally supervise this one."

"I see. So what is the project he is working on?"

"I will let you know when the time comes."

"That works for me." After Spinoza finished his sentence, Van nodded at him signalling the end of their conversation and began to turn around, but was halted by Spinoz's sudden question. "How's the flower? Did they bloom?"

"Yes, they are very beautiful. Thanks for introducing me to your daughter-in-law."

"You are welcome. So did she like the flowers?"

"How?"

"Of course there's always a she involved, the only reason a young man like you asked about flowers and gardening is to give it to a girl as a present. So was she happy when you gave her the flowers?"

Van face became a bit red as he coughed at Spinoza's misunderstanding, though he had no intention to correct it. "Yes, she was happy about it. Though..." He trailed off.

"You seem troubled, young man, want to talk about it?" Spinoza asked after realizing that Van had no intention to finish his previous sentence and noticing the faraway look in his eyes.

"I... no, I shouldn't be bothering you." Van shook his head.

"It isn't a weak thing to do if that's what you are thinking. You are still young, I understand you don't want to appear to be weak, but do understand this: everyone has their own problem, whether they are strong or weak, the only thing that separates them is how they deal with it. Remember that it's always those that liked to bottle up everything that were the easiest to break."

"Thanks, Spinoza." Van closed his eyes as he inhaled and exhaled deeply. He opened his eyes and held his gaze with the elder scientist.

"Have you ever made a promise that you knew you could never keep with those you love?"

"Was it because of something you decided to do?"

_Hmmm... a promise that can never be realised... _Cantabile mused as she kept an ear open to the conversation between Van and Spinoza. Her thought trailed off to a long ago memory, a memory in which two little girls made a promise to each other, a promise she took pride in fulfilling, and a promise that meant the whole world to her.

"_You know how envious I am of you? I also want to learn how to wield a sword, but noooo, father is always telling me how I am of the nobility and should never do something so unbecoming to a lady."_

"_That's what the protectors are for, they are here to protect your family so you don't have to learn how to fight."_

"_I know, but I also want to protect the others, what if someone attacked when all the men are away?."_

"_It's alright, I will be there and protect your family with my life."_

"_No, don't say anything like sacrificing your life for me. Canny, you are my best friend, I don't want anything to happen to you."_

"Y_ou are also my best friend, I also don't want anything to happen to you."_

"_Hmmm... how about a promise then?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_A promise that we would always help out each other, even in danger, and not with the word 'sacrificing' in mind, but with the words 'living on'."_

"_I see. I promise that I would always be by Milady's side fighting along with you."_

"_A promise then! Also, I thought I told you many times not to call me 'Milady'!"_

"_I'm sorry, it's just difficult for a normal citizen like me to call you with any disrespect."_

"_I never understand what it is with you and respecting others. You are being too respectful for your own good!"_

Realizing she was spacing out reminiscing a past that would only bring pain to her heart, she shook her head to clear her thought. She noticed that her targets were leaving and went to follow after them.

_So who did you make a promise to, Van, even when you already know you can never fulfill it?_

* * *

It was a peaceful afternoon in Daath. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and birds were chirping cheerfully. Most members of the Order of Lorelei were spending their free time (it was Gnomeday and most don't have work to do) in the courtyard enjoying the afternoon sun. However, there were also people that chose to ignore the good weather in favor of other more important (at least to them) matters. In one of the corridors in the Oracle Headquarters, one where the sun couldn't reach, two such men were staring down each other.

"What is it you want that can't be waited?" Dist was standing next to the half opened door to his room glaring at the huge man before him. His arms were crossed before his chest and he was tapping his foot on the floor impatiently.

"Van wants to know what you've been doing during your supposed vacation." Largo said.

"Why should I tell you about my personal life? And what do you mean by 'supposed'?"

"You will have to ask Van, he thinks there's more to your 'vacation'." Largo half shrugged.

"Fine, I will see him later... or are you going to force me to go there now like last time?" Dist questioned and looked warily at Largo.

"He wants to see you later tonight at around eleven."

"Right, so you have delivered your message, now leave so I can continue my work!" Dist snapped at him.

Noticing Dist's even fouler mood than usual, Largo left without saying another word. Dist half slammed the door and went back to his working bench, all the while mumbling something unintelligent, most probably insulting words, under his breath.

He sat down before a computer and some entangled wires, just like the ones Kratos saw when he came to the lab to look for him. He typed something in the computer and turned on a switch on a nearby circuit board that was connected to the wires. He heard the familiar humming noise of engine and looked at the monitor of the computer as data after data appeared on the screen. Although the data were appearing at a very fast pace, Dist was still able to read it with ease. He frowned at some of the messages that appeared on the screen telling him that his latest attempt did not give him the desired result again. He sighed and switched off the power. He saved the data from his most recent failed attempt at his newest project and decided to take a look at it later.

He fell back on his chair and looked at the wires that were on his working bench. He closed his eyes for a while before opening them again. His gaze followed the entangled wires from on top of the working bench to the floor and finally to a luxurious looking chair. The fabric of the back of the chair was torn off and the wires were connected to there. More wires could be seen coming out of the back of the chair, some even sticking out at awkward angles. Although you couldn't really see pass the mess of wires unless you had the ability to see through things, somewhere in the middle of the chaotic mess of wires were a silver sphere. It was the same sphere he had been working on before Kratos dragged him away from the lab.

When the ship they took from Daathic Bay to Port Belkend stopped at Port Sheridan, he had dragged Kratos along to Sheridan, the City of Craftsmen, a place he had wanted to visit since a long time ago but couldn't due to his status as a citizen of Malkuth. They didn't have much time before the ship left again but he had somehow convinced Kratos to let him have an hour of free time to spend in Sheridan. He had wanted to spend more time there, but what more could he say? He was already lucky that the path from Port Sheridan to Sheridan was not very long and was free of monster.

During his limited time there, he heard about some fon machine being excavated from a two thousand year old ruin. Oh boy, imagine his excitement at hearing such a rare piece of beauty being in the same town as him. However, it was a shame when he heard that no one had figured out what the machine could do yet. When he heard that, his first instinct was to march into the place the fon machine was being held and to perform different analysis on it.

… well... he had done it, at least the part about marching into the lab... he was sort of thrown out of the building right after he went in due to unauthorized entry... though one of the more kindhearted researchers noticed his passion about the fon machine and told him that an imitation of it was being displayed in the local museum. The first thing Dist thought of was that the 'thing' that was displayed in the museum was just a cheap imitation, a fake one that wasn't even a replica of the real thing, what good would it do for him to study it? However, in the end he succumbed to his curiosity and went to the museum.

He had to admit that although that wasn't a replica and must be quite different from the original one, they have really outdone themselves when they even copied the glyphs over. He had studied very closely at the fake fon machine, maybe a little too closely when one of the scientist on duty came to chat with him about this fon machine. He told the scientist of his own theory on what this fon machine could do judging from the shape of it and the glyphs on it.

At first it was only one scientist, then as their conversation became more heated, a few more joined their conversations, some even described to him the differences between the imitation and the real one. As they exchanged theories on what this fon machine could do, one of the more senior scientist (at least he appeared to be more experienced to Dist than the others) asked Dist if he would like to go to the lab to help them analyse it. He was going to say yes when the deep and sharp voice of Kratos cut through the air and told him that they needed to go.

Dist was reluctant to go, so did some of the scientists chatting with him not wanting him to go yet, but it couldn't be helped, not with Kratos' 'death glare'. At least he already grasped the basic idea on how the fon machine works from the various descriptions and opinions. He had told them somewhere within their discussion that he thought the fon machine was designed to help a larger machine, say, a warship, cruise. His other theory was that, judging from the amount of glyphs of the Second, Third and Fourth Fonon, the Fonon of Earth, Wind and Water respectively, this fon machine had something to do with gravity, maybe an anti-gravity generator or something similar.

After they arrived at Belkend, based on his own theory and what he remembered of the fake two thousand year old fon machine, he tried to make his own anti-gravity device whenever he had spare time. Well, not all his spare time... but most of it after he talked the lab coordinators into letting him have access to the materials he needed and assigned a work space to him. In fact, he got the idea of making the normally heavy scythe to feel like something that only had the weight similar to a screwdriver from it. That silver sphere was also of similar idea, though he had designed it with the thought of having it supplying the power to lift something much heavier and larger, say, a chair, into the air in mind.

Yes, that was his latest project, a flying chair. He came up with this idea when Kratos commented on his speed and stamina. Kratos told him his speed was okay but his stamina was very lacking and he needed to do something about it and his exact thought at that moment was 'like hell I would willingly make myself fitter by doing exercise'. If he wasn't going to do anything to his own body, he would just have to make something else to remedy his mobility issue. He had done something similar to resolve his 'not being able to wield a heavy scythe' problem, so why not this problem? After all, his mind was his best _- only -_ weapon, and that's where the flying chair that navigates through the air came in.

_What am I missing? It should have worked perfectly theoretically. If it is the power required, I have already equipped a power booster. A small burst of power would be able to last for at least twenty four hours, but it could only hover above the ground for two seconds at most. I have also increased the efficiency... if it isn't the power, then what? The ratio of the Wind to Earth to Water glyphs is the same as the one in Sheridan, I even downgraded it so it could be used to making mid-weight and mid-sized item instead of something as large as a warship float. Is it some other glyphs that they forgot to mention during our discussion? Hmm... an unknown factor..._

"_So if you weren't a Seventh Fonist back then, how did you heal me?"_

_Argh! I really want to know what that unknown power of Kratos is! The things I could do if I am to discover a new type of power! Just like how Dr. Southern Cross discovered the Seventh Fonon all those years ago, and look at his achievements and the advancement it brought to mankind! If only I could get at least a few drops of blood... maybe even some hair would be enough..._

Dist sighed tiredly and let his gaze fell on the Fon Slot Seal he used on Kratos not long ago.

_I was used to multitasking, but... I can't work now... not like this... _He was tired, tired to the point of collapsing at any moment, but he still didn't want to sleep.

He always worked himself to the point of exhaustion before being forced to sleep because he wanted to avoid dreaming. Yes, he was scared of what he dreamed, he always had the same nightmare whenever he slept. The same nightmare that he always had since he left Grand Chokmah. The nightmare that started with the him and Jade staying over at Professor Nebilim's place for their project, then the fire that was caused by Jade's attempt to cast a spell using the Seventh Fonon even though the professor had repeatedly warned him not to, then Jade's attempt to bring her back by creating a replica of her and the replica wreaking havoc moments after being created and finally ended with Jade's cold gaze as he turned away and left without saying any words, no 'see you later', 'until next time' or even a simply 'goodbye'.

He was scared of the nightmare he would have if he went to sleep, that's why he wanted to hold off for as long as he could. However, this time he was scared of a different nightmare. This new nightmare had started ever since he came back to Daath from Belkend. He had only slept twice for the past few days and both times he had the same new nightmare, though with different endings. The ending of the dreams were different and the new endings were _much worse _and _disturbing_ than the previous ones where Jade just left. This new nightmare was also much more _detailed_, leading him to remembering all those little, but important, things that he had somehow forgotten as he grew up.

He was scared when Jade first said to replicate Professor Nebilim. All he could do was swallow up his tears and watched as the original died when Jade extracted the replicate data from her already weak form. He knew it was wrong to attempt Fomicry on humans, heck, he even (weakly) protested the idea, the very first time he said no to Jade. However, after the failure escaped and started killing people, he saw how guilt-ridden Jade was - even though others might use the word indifferent to describe Jade, he knew better to look past his facade - and wanted to do anything to help him. He was so glad when his childhood idol, the same one that often brushed him off and sometimes even did nasty things to him whenever he felt like it, told him he required, no, _needed_ his intelligence in Fontech to help him better the Fomicry research.

They even promised each other to bring her back completely through the use of Fomicry. They had gone through nearly ten years of hardship and had never given up, even when the research fund ran out, when they had to leave Ketelburg to integrate themselves into the military in order to continue their work and when nothing promising came out even after months of research. However, no matter how long had passed and how hard they worked, he never once saw a real smile on Jade's face, even when he got angry, he knew that it wasn't real, it was as if he somehow lost the ability to feel with the lost of their beloved teacher, which wasn't really that surprising, considering how detached Jade was to the world even when he was a child and how the professor was the one that taught him how to and helped him _feel._

"_Is he the reason for you to continue your research?"_

He had other reasons, but yes, he could remember now that his main focus was Jade, everything he did was always because of him. It was painful to look at Jade when he was like that, he wanted to complete Fomicry so they could all go back to the time when their beloved professor was there to guide them. This little discovery of his also led him to reflect on some other things.

"_I propose that you join me if you still want to revive her, and who knows, maybe the Necromancer will even thank and start looking up at you after you successfully revived her on your own."_

"_Everyone needs to grow up, now stop being such a crybaby."_

"_I would succeed the one thing he thought of as impossible! And once I succeed, he would be the one crawling back to me begging my forgiveness!"_

When he put Van's words, Jade's words and his own words together like this, he could see that he was really doing it for _himself_. Yes, he admitted to Jade that he didn't want to grow up, but would Jade really look up to him _if_ he really succeeded in resurrecting her? Or would they just revert back to the time when he was just the useful tool that could always be thrown away whenever Jade saw fit?

"_... does his opinion really matter that much to you? Even after you said you want to live a new life and step away from his shadow?"_

He had heard Kratos' comment, he just didn't want to think about it and thus pretended not to have heard his words. He meant it when he told Kratos he didn't really want to escape Jade's shadow. He had been chasing after him all his life, trying desperately to make Jade saw him as his equal. Maybe he had just lost the ability to really think for himself, or maybe he _could_ think for himself, he just couldn't think of anything that didn't have Jade in it.

Another reason for him to want to revive the professor was because he really wanted to revive her, she was like a mother to him and it was only natural that he wanted her to be beside him. However, even that...

"_How would you know she wants to be resurrected?"_

"_Of course she would want it!"_

"_Even when her revival is built on others' corpse?"_

He didn't give Kratos any answer, but he knew the answer was no. Of course the kind and loving professor wouldn't want to live a life that was based on others' death. He had known it even before Kratos asked him that question, but he couldn't stop, not when that's the only way he was needed by Jade and the only way he could help Jade regain his true self. That question by Kratos was also the exact reason why he was having this new and worse nightmare in the first place.

This time, instead of Jade leaving him behind, he remained and the two of them had successfully created a perfect replica of their teacher. By perfect he meant that the replica even shared her kind smile and attitude towards others. They then somehow found a way to integrate the memory of the original into the replica and was very excited at the prospect of having their pseudo mother back. However, that was when all hell broke loose. What they, or maybe just he, thought would happen did not happen.

In his own fantasy, Jade would tell Professor Nebilim how sorry he was for ignoring her pleas to stop his attempt to use the Seventh Fonon and asked for her forgiveness, then the professor, being the kind and loving woman she was, naturally forgave Jade and told the both of them that everything would be fine from now on and the three of them, maybe also Nephry and Peony, would become an inseparable group from then on.

In his first dream, Jade did ask for her forgiveness, but she didn't forgive him and told Jade how disappointed she was when he betrayed her trust by trying to do the thing she explicitly told him not to do and killed her in the process. Then the kind and loving woman was replaced by the failure and monster that was the first human replica ever created and killed Jade in cold blood, all the while saying how she was doing this world a favor by ridding the world of the _Necromancer_. Then she turned towards him and told him how he was also as sinful as Jade considering how he _encouraged_ and took part in the research that was against the very nature of mankind. He woke up after she drove her already blood-stained hand through his heart while saying how he deserved to die the same way as Jade.

The other ending he had for his second dream wasn't any better either, if anything, it was _worse_. In the second dream, instead of being disappointed in the two of them, Professor Nebilim forgave Jade and told them she thought that the technology to replicate both living beings and dead objects was a great breakthrough. It was like his fantasy came true when the three of them later became an inseparable group just like in the past and Jade reverted back to his old self. The two of them even began to work on another project _together_. However, since they successfully revived Professor Nebilim and Jade was free of the guilt of accidentally killing her, he started finding ways to create a pseudo Seventh Fonist.

They knew well enough what the side effects were and how impossible and fruitless this research would be, but Jade, being the old stubborn Jade, had ignored the professor's pleas to drop such a dangerous research. History repeated itself and she was once again killed in an accident involving a running wild crazy _human _subject after he was being injected by Seventh Fonon. However, Jade wasn't even the slightest bit remorseful this time, claiming that they could just revive their beloved professor and maybe even the subject himself again. Jade became much more... _ruthless_ now that he knew he could always revive the dead even if he _accidentally killed _them. This time he woke up after Professor Nebilim, no, not the real one, but the _fifth _perfect replica of the original, died at Jade's hand.

Both endings were horrible and downright disturbing and that gave him all the more reason to avoid sleeping. Who knows how his next nightmare would end in? A not-wanting-to-live-a-false-live Professor Nebilim begging them to kill her all over again? Jade throwing him away like throwing a useless tool, or even worse, a garbage, away after they finished the Fomicry experiment?

_I always thought that everything would be fine once the professor came back, but those dreams... I don't know what to think anymore... _His thought then trailed off to a certain mercenary that had led him to those shocking thoughts and their last conversation.

"_Do you really believe that it's wise to do something like that?"_

"_Why do people always say it's impossible? I tell you now that I will make this a reality! Then I can fulfill the promise I made with him by reviving her!"_

"_I am not saying that it's impossible, but have you think of the consequence? You may also think it a noble thing to do to keep a long ago promise, but what if she doesn't want to be revived?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_How would you know she wants to be resurrected?"_

"_Of course she would want it!"_

"_Even when her revival is built on others' corpse?"_

"_... you don't understand! After Jade's betrayal, she is all that I have left!"_

"I_s that what you really believe?"_

"_... did something similar happen to you?"_

"_Why would you think that?"_

"_Because otherwise I__ doubt you would have said what you said to steer me away from Fomicry. Even Jade didn't want to waste his breath trying to talk me out of it."_

"_It is nothing you need to concern yourself with."_

"_Of course it's something that concerns me! You were trying to tell me ho- how futile it is to cling onto ou- my dream! Then you talked as if you have also experienced something like that, I would think I have the right to know what this is all about!"_

"_M__aybe you're right, but that doesn't mean I want to let others know about my past. You should now know that I am not the type to talk about myself."_

"_So what? You saying that the reason you asked me about it is because you have a similar past and regretted over it and now you want to talk me out of it as what? Something like a repentance? And now you are the one closing off?"_

"_I will come see you about the Fon Slot Seal later."_

"_Wha- wait! Kratos, I didn't mean... argh fine! I am going back to the Cathedral!"_

That was five days ago and the last time Dist had seen or heard of Kratos.

_Does that mean I once again lost my chance at making friend with someone that could tolerate me and someone that I can stand? _

"_Saphir, you do realize that His Highness is only teasing you, there is no need to get this upset. Though it amazes me how he keeps on bugging you when no one else could tolerate your temper."_

"_But you can, right, Jade? That's why you are my best friend!"_

"_... please don't say something like that, it feels disgusting, and where did you get the idea I could tolerate you?"_

"_Jaaaade!"_

"_Anyway, what I am saying is that you need to make some other friends, say, His Highness, and stop always following me."_

"_No! Why would I want to be friend with pea-brain! All he does is make fun of me! And the others could never understand me, or either I couldn't stand them or, as you said, 'couldn't tolerate my temper'. Being friend with you alone is enough for me, I don't need other friends."_

Feeling tears coming out of his eyes, Dist wiped them away with trembling hands. Not just his hands, his whole body was shaking from his thoughts. This wasn't the first time he cursed his over-active mind for not being able to just _stop_ thinking of anything for even a minute and he knew it wouldn't be the last time either. However, for the first time in his life (at least to his memory), he wanted to do something not research related. He glanced around the room and his gaze finally rested on the clock. He noticed that the time was near eleven and decided to go see Van, anything but experiments to take his mind off Jade, Professor Nebilim, Kratos... and his current situation.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for the long wait... am busy lately... I also haven't had the time to proof read it... so please bear with any spelling and/or grammar mistake in this chapter. I will continue to be busy in the coming days...I hope I could keep it at maybe 10 days per chapter from now on...

The dialogue of part of this chapter (Van's part) is from a part of Tear's Story in Tales of Fandom Vol. 2, hope I didn't bore those who had already seen it before.

Lord-Krun: Thanks for your review! Hope my plot later on will keep you interested too.

Fallen-Angel-XIII: Thanks for your review! I get motivated whenever I gain a new reviewer!

_Uploaded on 21 August 2012. Edited on 4 May 2013._


	17. Life Changing Nightmares

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking; Character remembering a past conversation_

- Lunaday is equivalent to Tuesday

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 16: Life Changing Nightmares**

"I received a message from Cantible yesterday, it seems Van had visited Belkend earlier this week to check on the progress of that experiment." The Fon Master said while looking out the window of his office to the city of Daath.

"She found out what the experiment is about?" Kratos asked.

"No, not yet. However... have you heard of Dr. Saphir Wyon Neis?"

"... yes, I have seen his name in quite a lot of publications in the field of Fontech. What of him?" Kratos hadn't told anyone about Dist being Saphir and was a bit surprised his name came up out of the blue.

"Van had his hands on a equipment made by him and they, I mean Van and Spinoza, were talking about how that equipment would help facilitate the research. They also mentioned something about needing a subject and not having enough space for the second stage of the experiment." Evenos paused to allow time for Kratos to digest this piece of information.

_I thought the only reason Van recruited Dist was for the technology of replication, what if that's not the only thing he is after? What if... he is going to do what I am thinking of? _Kratos mused as he closed his eyes.

"You know something about it?"

"... what are your and Cantabile's speculation about it?"

"We aren't sure what this is about. However, Cantabile said that judging from Spinoza's tone when he mentioned about needing a subject, she thinks they were talking about a living human. I think the reason they need to have a more spacious area for the experiment was that the equipment for this experiment is very large. Cantabile had also looked up Dr. Neis but she couldn't find anything on him except what anyone could find from the books and that he had disappeared from Grand Chokmah some months ago and is currently under arrest." Evenos paused as he gathered his thoughts before continuing.

"I knew Malkuth was the one researching Fomicry, just not who were involved in it. I bet Dr. Neis was one of the researchers of Fomicry. Putting all these together, I would say Van is reconstructing the Fomicry experiment, which suits what you told me about Van trying to kidnap Luke fon Fabre and your own speculation about Van replicating Luke."

"I see." Since no one but he and Van knew about Dist's real identity, no one apart from them, maybe also Largo, knew that Dist was in fact being included in Van's group so that Van could have the technology of replication.

"Is there something else you want to add?" Evenos asked as he noticed Kratos' look, which wasn't much considering how Kratos always had his poker face on, but somehow he felt there was more to it.

"No, not at the moment." Kratos said and, seeing that Evenos didn't have anything else to say, left the room.

It had taken him quite some time to sneak into and out of the Fon Master's room and to navigate through the maze like corridors in the Oracles Headquarters while hiding from the others the first few times. However, he had memorized the inner structure of the Cathedral and the schedule of the patrolling after his fourth time in the building and he could come and go easily without worrying about being caught. After he left Evenos' room, he headed towards Van's room to eavesdrop on the conversation he knew was going to occur.

* * *

_I feel like dying._ Was Dist's only thought as he stood in front of the door leading to Van's room after knocking on it twice. After he left his room, he went straight to Van's room. He somehow forgot that his present condition, severe exhaustion coupled with malnutrition and maybe also a bit dehydration, was in no way suited to walk long distance, though in reality it only took him several minutes.

"Come in." Dist quickly opened the door and half stumbled into the room. Without so much as glancing towards Van's direction and acknowledging his presence, he walked to the nearest chair and collapsed onto it.

"Are you alright?" The very mature looking teenager asked the man in front of him after he took in his disarray and unkempt appearance.

"No, I am not, but don't mind me, just get it over with." Dist croaked out as he adjusted himself to a more comfortable position on the chair.

Van shook his head slightly, putting the weird behavior of Dist aside as the 'normal' behavior of the already half crazed scientist. He opened his mouth and began to questio-

"No, wait, there's something I want to ask you first. Why do you want the technology to replicate things?" Dist quickly said before Van could even get a word out.

"Why the sudden interest? Are you in any ways thinking of quitting?" Van replied with yet another set of questions.

"... no, you said it yourself that you know about my background. Why would you think I would do something like stopping this research?"

"So it's just curiosity?

"You can say that... and most, if not all, scientists would want to know what their inventions are being used for." Well, technically Fomicry wasn't Dist's invention, but Van didn't have to know that... or maybe he knew that already.

"Knowing about it won't speed up your progress, so no, I don't see the need to tell you about it. It doesn't concern you anyway."

At Van's monotone, Dist jumped up from his chair. "Why you inso-"

"Remember our deal." Van narrowed his eyes at Dist and cut him off with a sharp tone.

"... fine." Dist flinched at Van's piercing gaze.

"So tell me about that little 'vacation' of yours."

Dist sighed and collapsed back down on the chair. He massaged his temples with his fingers as he felt an immense headache from his sudden motion of standing up. "Largo told me about it... what makes you think there's more to it anyway?"

"I have my own source."

"_Hey, you are the newest researcher, aren't you? Did Van send you here to help us?"_

"_Hm? What does it have to do with Van?"_

"_Wha- Oh sorry, I think I have the wrong person."_

_So there are also people working for him in Belkend. And who does he think he is, monitoring all my activities?_ Dist mused, most of his previous tiredness and headache replaced by the anger at Van prying into his life and, at least it sounded that way to him, wanting to control him, which was not included in their deal.

"I went to Belkend under the Fon Master's order."

"And the reason the others think that you were having a vacation was...?"

Dist shrugged. "It was supposed to be a secret mission. Though I see that you already know about it."

"What exactly is the mission about?"

"To retrieve some documentations from Fon Machine Lab Two and supervise some experiments there. Judging from your knowledge about this mission, I take it you already know what the documentations and experiments are about?"

"I heard it's about some domestic invention. But why would the Fon Master make it a secret mission?"

"You will have to ask him yourself, I couldn't see any reason this mission needed to be labelled 'secret'."

Seeing Van's thoughtful look, all Dist could think of was how weird it was for Van to want to keep tabs on him and knew what he was being ordered to do.

_Oh well, he was the one that 'invited' me over so I could do the ILLEGAL research for him, of course he would be concerned. Well it isn't illegal in Daath... yet, but I bet it would be if the higher ups caught wind of it, or maybe the higher ups will be okay with it, but it's still too risky to let the others know about it. He would have lost the chance to find out more about Fomicry if my real identity or what I am really researching is out, not to mention he would lose his job if our little deal were to be made known to others. _

He also didn't understand the purpose of making this mission a secret, those experiments he were ordered to supervise and documents to retrieve weren't any military secrets nor would any parties, maybe except their rivals in Sheridan, want to steal their secrets or be upset by the prospect of this new type of medical equipment. Also, seeing how Daath being neutral and all, these new equipment would soon be on their way to the other medical centers and hospitals around the world. So no, he didn't see the need to not let anyone know about this mission, unless there was some power struggle in the upper echelon that he wasn't aware of, or maybe...

"_Also, due to the need of secrecy, the escort we have for you is not from the Order, but a hired sword."_

"_Your secret is safe with me."_

"_Speaking of which, why Daath? Surely Kimlasca would die to have a top researcher like you working for them. You told me that's because Van offered you a place in Daath, but I doubt that is the real reason."_

"_Not the whole story, but I guess anyone could figure from your little outburst yesterday that you are continuing that research."_

"_Because otherwise I doubt you would have said what you said to steer me away from Fomicry. Even Jade didn't want to waste his breath trying to talk me out of it."_

… _maybe I am the one being targeted? I didn't think it was possible and so haven't really thought about it, but now with Van asking me this and that... it is as if it isn't that they didn't want others to know about it, they just don't want Van to know about it. But why? _

"Why are you interested in what mission I was sent to anyway?"

"I guess you could say it's curiosity. What more can you tell me about your mission?"

_Curiosity my ass._ Dist thought and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _I guess I get the gist of what is going on. Though I don't see any problem with telling him about the mission, I don't like it that he is so close to violating my own personal space... he isn't Jade, so I am not really scared of him and I don't have any obligation to tell him about my personal life. Oh well, two can play the game, though I will play it in a different fashion._

"I am glad you ask! It was a fantastic mission! Do you have any idea how excited I was at being able to go to Belkend, the city of Fon Machine? Malkuth and Kimlasca are forever warring against each other and I could never go visit Belkend, the dream city of every mechanic in Auldrant! Have you ever heard of th-"

"I asked you about the mission, not about the city."

"Right, the mission." Dist then deliberately gave a very detailed description of the fon machines involved in the mission, and also some random fon machines that popped up in his mind, to Van. He also added a lot of his own theories on how those machine should be constructed to have a better efficiency and many 'ohs' and 'aahs' to emphasize his delight with the fon machine, not to mention some of the complaints he had with other personnel in the lab, all in order to bore Van to death and have him lost his interest in this mission.

"Is that all?" Van had placed his right hand over his face and was messaging his temples using his thumb and middle finger when Dist paused to catch his breath during his 'very thorough' report.

"Of course not! I still haven't gone to the most exciting part of the medical equipment! It-"

"Enough. I am asking if this medical project was the only thing you did while in Belkend."

"No, I had my own projects to work on, like th-"

"That's fine, I think I have heard enough of your mission."

"What!? Bu- but I still haven't-"

"No, that's enough, I insist."

"Fine." _Wow, he lasted longer than I think he would. _Inwardly, Dist was slightly amazed that Van lasted this long before deciding he had had enough. Outwardly, he humphed and crossed his arms before him. "So is that all you want to know? Can I go back now?"

"Yes, go back to your room and maybe take a rest before you worked yourself to death." Van said as he waved his hand at Dist in a dismissal motion.

"Right..." Dist trailed off as he felt all his energy left him at the word 'rest', inwardly cursing Van for reminding him of his exhaustion. _At least I succeeded in annoying the hell out of him. Jade was always saying that I am the most annoying person in the world and how I could easily make others wary of me when I open my mouth... _

Van could feel the gloomy atmosphere emitted by the scientist as Dist became even more deflated as his 'friend' once again unintentionally came up in his mind. However, Van just waved it off as Dist's irritation at his refusal to hear more of his 'exciting' mission.

Dist pushed himself up from the chair and stumbled out of Van's room, he would have slammed the door if he had the strength, but strength was the thing he lacked the most in his current condition. He tried to make his way back to his room, but things seemed to be revolving everywhere he looked and he couldn't even make out right from left.

_So I am at my limit..._ was the last thing on his mind before his world turned black and his leg gave way and he collapsed on the ground.

* * *

_Where am I?_ Dist thought as he felt the softness of the bed he was lying on. _Why am I in a bed? When did I went to bed for that matter? Wasn't I talking with Van? Am I dreaming? ...no, I wouldn't be able to think the phrase 'am I dreaming' if I'm really dreaming._

He slowly pried open his eyes, not really wanting to find out if he was in dreamland or not but know that it didn't matter what his 'wanted', he still needed to get it over with. What he did see was... nothing, well, rather than nothing, it's more like the room, if it was a room, he was in was so dark that he couldn't see anything at all. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark surroundings and after nearly half a minute, he could vaguely make out the figure of the familiar Fontech lamp he installed shortly after he was assigned his own room to make his room look more stylish and not plain like the others... _Wait, I am in my own room?_

Confused, he tried to get up to have a better look at his surroundings but couldn't due to his still weakened state. _So I am not dreaming, but what happened?_ He groaned as he felt his whole body aching reminding him of his malnourished body and telling him that this was no dream as no one was supposed to feel pain in dream.

"Don't try to sit up in one go, it's best for you to take it slowly." A deep voice resounded in the room.

Dist couldn't tell where the voice came from, but one thing he's sure about, or he thought he was sure about, was that... "so this is another nightmare..." He whispered and closed his eyes as tight as he could and wished that whatever his own mind had cooked up for this 'new' nightmare could just get it over with or, better still, just go away so he could wake up.

"A nightmare? What makes you think that?" The voice said.

"How else would you be in my room if not for a dream? Last time I checked no one with the name Kratos Aurion was working in the Order of Lorelei, nor would Kratos know where my room is located, even if he knew, he wouldn't be able to come, considering how this area is staff only." He croaked out, his voice hoarse from lack of water. _How long was it since I last drank any water?_ _Wait- _He paused his train of thought and blinked twice, _it doesn't add up... a dream where I could think freely, feel pain and even my vocal chord suffer from lack of water?_

"No wait, I really ain't dreaming?" He said as he tried to get up again, much slower this time.

"What do you think? If I am a dream object made from your mind, what do you want me to say to make you think otherwise?" 'Kratos' said with an amused tone.

"... could you turn on the light?"

"I don't think it's a good idea, at least not for you."

"... right..." Dist opened the drawer of the night-stand and although he couldn't see in the dark, he easily took out a portable Fontech lamp from the drawer. He had always hated _- scared of -_ the dark and so had several sources of light placed in different areas within his room just in case. A second later the room was illuminated with a dim and soft yellow light. He slowly opened his eyes that was closed just before he turned on the light and rubbed them with the back of his hand to rub away the blurry image. He looked around his room and saw Kratos leaning against the wall near the entrance of the room with a book in his hand.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Kratos asked as he noticed the scientist's eyes began to lose focus.

"What?" Dist blinked at the question that had interrupted his thoughts and Kratos had to repeat the question for him.

"Ummm... the last thing I remember... I was... having... a somewhat serious conversation with Van?" Dist answered, uncertainty laced in his voice. He placed the palm of his left hand over the left side of his neck and tilted his head slightly to the left as he tried to remember the conversation with Van. He wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling it was important that he remembered what exactly happened during the conversation.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Last time I ate? When was it again..." Kratos sighed at the answer. Although Dist looked to be answering his question, Kratos knew he wasn't actually answering his question. It was just an automatic response to his question as the faraway look from Dist's face was still there, signifying that he was still deep in thought thinking whatever it was that he was thinking.

"Ah!" Dist exclaimed suddenly as he remembered that it was what he had been thinking about during the conversation that was important and not the conversation itself.

"Umm... thanks for helping me out again, I guess." Dist said as he rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand and grinned sheepishly towards Kratos.

"You guess?"

"You were following me, right? And I bet you were eavesdropping on the conversation between me and Van." Dist narrowed his eyes at Kratos to try to look intimidating, but failing horribly, given his current condition. "The first time you saved me might have _-cough- _been pure coincidence, but I doubt that this time _-cough-_ you once again 'accidentally' stumbled upon _-cough-_ my unconscious form in the corridor of _-cough-_ the Oracle _-cough-_ Headquarters." After he finished his sentence, he bent over and started coughing harshly due to overuse of his already dry throat.

Dist heard the sound of water running and a moment later, a glass of water was handed to him. He eagerly took the glass of water and started to drink from it. "Drink slowly, you were out for nearly thirty hours and I could only guess when it was that you last drank any water even before you collapsed."

"Thirty hours!? And no one _-cough- _checked on me during that time? _-cough-_ I would have thought someone would have at least questioned where I was and why I didn't check in yesterday, or was it _-cough-_ today?" Dist exclaimed with a startled look after he thought he had drunk enough water for the time being.

"It wasn't me that took you back to your room, but Van. He must have realized how exhausted you were when you stumbled out of his room and didn't even try to slam his door." Kratos replied with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "So naturally I would think he covered for you and told the others not to disturb you. You should thank him instead of me."

"Then why are you here?"

"Someone has to make sure you don't go dying at some point while you were unconscious."

"You were here the whole time?"

"As you have deduced, I was following you."

"But... you mean you were awake the whole time? Don't you have other things t-" Dist's train of questions were interrupted by Kratos' cough. "Right... sorry, it was just a bit creepy to have someone within my room watching me sleep..."

" I wasn't watching you sleep as you put it, I was here to make sure your body wasn't malnourished to the point that you die in your sleep. I have been reading the books on your shelves as I was also interested in Fontech. And no, I haven't touched any of your experiments." Kratos added the last sentence when he noticed the protective look on Dist.

"Wha- I wasn't accusing you of anything! Jus _-cough-_ no, wait, there are other things I need to ask you about. But before that _-cough- _could you tell me what the time is now?"

"It is four in the morning, today is Lunaday, thirty-second Gnome-Decan. You have only missed one day. So what is it you want to know?"

"Who are you working for?"

"No one, my actions are my own."

"... are you targeting me? Or Van? And why?"

"Both. As you have pointed out before, I have experienced something similar to your case before, but it wasn't me that wanted to revive the dead, but my student." Kratos took the empty glass from Dist and walked towards the sink to refill the glass.

"He was obsessed with finding ways to revive his sister. He did find a way, different to yours but still very much alike in the aspect that it requires other people's life. He became a monster that had no regard for others' life and the only way he could be stopped was to kill him. Although I wasn't the one to kill him, it's just the same, considering how I was his teacher and couldn't help him." Although he could not see his face, Dist could clearly hear the sadness and bitterness in Kratos' voice and could only imagine how sad he would have looked right now.

"... why are you telling me this now?"

"I have been thinking about what you said. You were correct in guessing that I tried to talk you out of Fomicry because I failed my student, but I also want you to understand that I am not doing this so I could somehow shake away or lessen the guilt I have for not being able to stop him."

"Then why?"

"What do you think of this world? Has it lost all it's color after she died?"

"What?" Dist blinked at the suddenness of the question. However, before he could even fully process what the question was about, Kratos was talking again.

"I guess the world must have lost all its colour and brightness to my student after his sister died. But was it true? He still had me, his teacher, and other friends to rely on, he just chose to remain living in the past. It may be true to him that the present only consists of darkness, but what about the future?"

"..."

"My student couldn't imagine a world without his sister, he was unable to look past the present… I have also once lost someone important to me, I haven't tried to revive her, but in the same sense, I thought the world had lost all its color and brightness. It was hard, but eventually I learned to step forward into the colorful and bright future. However, from our conversations, I can tell that not all your actions are focused in reviving your teacher, so tell me, does your world only consist of darkness now?" Kratos returned to the seat next to Dist's bed and placed the glass of water in his hand.

Dist didn't know what to say, all he could do was stare at the glass of water in his hand. Finally, after what felt like forever to him, he began. "I... I understand that the world isn't meaningless even after she died... in fact... I felt I have moved to a different phase of my life... To me, the world never really lost it's color .. as I still have... no... had Jade... but... now... I... I have been having nightmares... remember when you asked me how... how I would know that she wants to be revived and when you... indirectly let me in on how I am still living a life chasing his shadows?" He paused, suddenly uncertain how to continue.

Although Dist still had his gaze on the glass of water he was holding in his lap, he knew Kratos was waiting patiently for him to continue. Gathering what little courage remained in him, he began to tell Kratos about his nightmares, the ones he had been having recently, even the imaginary ones he thought was bound to happen sooner or later if he were to sleep a few more times.

He wasn't sure why he was telling it to Kratos of all people... well, when he really think about it, it wasn't that difficult to grasp the concept of him spilling all his fears to Kratos, after all, who else would be willing to listen to him anyway? Professor Nebilim? Dead, not able to listen to him and comfort him anymore. Jade? Even when they were somewhat on 'good' terms, he was never one to listen to things like this and would most likely just mock him anyway. Peony? He would have to be insane to tell that stupid prince something so, no, scratch that, _anything_ personal. Nephry? He would have if she was around, although younger than him, Nephry was always like an elder sister to him, she even stood up to Jade, her _real _brother, for him... but who knows what would be going on in her mind once she learned that Di- Saphir became a criminal to Malkuth?

He was near the end describing the nightmares he had and would have if he were to sleep a few more times. He didn't understand why he was telling Kratos this... he had established the fact that Kratos was the only one he could relate his fear to, what he didn't understand was _how _he could just voice out his fear to a random person. No, not random, he thought of Kratos as a friend. Well, he wasn't so sure if they were still friends or if Kratos thought of him as a friend at all... after all the spying and targeting thing...

He had finished talking now, no, he _thought_ he had finished talking but he could feel his mouth still moving. "Jade was the one that created Fomicry, there was an accident where Nephry's doll was broken and she started crying because of it. Jade then used a technique that even adults thought was impossible to replicate the doll and gave the replica doll to Nephry. Although he never showed it, Jade cares for his sister very much. But no one ever understand Jade, not even Nephry. The only ones that understood him were me and Professor Nebilim. I had always in my own way tried to make Jade see that I understood him and that he wasn't alone, but I am not so sure now whether I truly understand him or not anymore. Maybe the only one that truly understood him was the professor. He looked up to her and under her guidance, he became a better person, one that started to resemble a normal human child and not the devil's child the others nicknamed him. At a time, I was jealous at her for being able to help Jade where I cannot, but only just a bit, after all, she was very kind and loving to me and I think of her as the mother I could never have."

He knew where this was going and he wanted to stop but somehow his mouth continued talking of its own accord. "It all happened when Jade tried to perform Fonic Artes that only a Seventh Fonist can do. The Arte ran wild and her house was caught in flames. We were the only ones there and when we left the house dragging her with us, her body was already so deformed that it would be too painful for her to live on. In his panic, the only time I've ever seen him panic, but still not anything like how a normal person would panic, Jade used Fomicry on the already dying Professor. The result was disastrous, the replica, the first living replica, was incomplete and became a monster that could only live on through killing others. Jade was devastated, or as devastated as he could ever get. It hurt to see him like that, so I told him not to give up and that I would help him in every way I can. We even promised each other to find a way to get her back."

He could hear the tremble in his own voice and he wanted it to stop so badly that he could hear his mind screaming at him to stop, but at the same time he could hear another faint voice from the back of his mind telling him it's now or never and he better talk to his hearts content. "I was also devastated that Professor Nebilim died, but I think I was too young to really understand what exactly happened... no, I think I understood, but it just happened so suddenly that I did't know what to think about it. Then I was at Jade's side helping him with the Fomicry experiments, it's like I did't really have the time to grief for her death with all the experiments going on... and I prefer it that way. The reason that Jade was dubbed the devil's child was because it was difficult for him to grasp human emotion. He also never really understood the concept of death and guilt. But her death had hit him hard and I know that in his own way, he was grieving over her death and was trying to find a way to make peace with her death. Back in the days, I was always the cry-baby that only knew how to rely on Jade, but seeing him like that, I know I don't have and don't want the time to grief, I wanted to be strong for him this time... but now, I don't know what to think anymore..."

Somewhere during his monologue, Dist had grabbed a tissue paper from the night-stand and had been waiting for himself to start crying. However, this time he wasn't actually feeling sad when he narrated his life story, no, he wasn't said, in fact, he wasn't feeling anything at all... even though his voice was trembling and his mind was screaming at him to stop. He felt numb, yes, that was the word, he was feeling emotionally detached. Funny, it was like he was in another person's body, watching them recounting his life story.

"In the end, I'm just a selfish person that only think for themselves."

"Why would you think that?" Kratos whispered.

"How else would you justify me deserting Malkuth to come to Daath just so I could continue the research on Fomicry even though Jade was the one that banned it?" Dist's voice was raising and he was nearly shouting as he finished his question.

"What about resurrecting Nebilim just so Jade could make peace with her death?"

"I did say that... but what if I am the only one thinking that way? Jade banned Fomicry to show me how he has moved on, but I am still clinging to that promise. You said it is a noble thing to want to keep a promise, but every time I think about that promise it's just full of what I want to do! 'I want to help Jade', 'I want to go back to the way it was', 'I want Professor Nebilim to make everything alright again'... everything I did was because 'I want'!"

"If you put it that way, then everything everyone ever does was based on selfishness. I am selfish for listening to you because 'I want to help you'. Even the hero that saved the world was selfish because 'he wanted the world to be saved'." Kratos said with a half smile, slightly amused at Dist's logic.

"Well... that's..." Dist furrowed his brow as he tried to think of a way to reply Kratos' comment.

"No, what I want you to be aware of isn't whether you are selfish or not, I want you to understand that even though you may not be able to go back to the past, you should try to look past the present and realize the many different choices you could make if you could just try to step forward. My student denied the many different choices presented to him to create a better future for himself because he was blinded by his rage and sadness at his sister's death. He only realized how wrong he was during his last moments, but it was already too late for him. But it isn't too late for you, in fact, it's just the start for you if you decide to do things differently from now on. You are also different from him, you understand that your teacher might not have wanted to be revived and you understand that the world isn't over because of what happened to you. Right now you are just blinded by the rage and sadness at the thought of Jade abandoning you."

"But it's true, isn't it? That Jade abandoned me..." Dist sighed and closed his eyes.

"I am not him so I can't tell you what's on his mind. But no matter what he thinks, you are already finding your own ways to cope with it, you just have too much in your mind at the moment. You need to sort through your thoughts and try to deal with your inner demons one at a time."

"But I don't even know how and where to start..." Dist said with a look of lost on his face.

"Do you remember what you said when you told me the reason you changed your name?"

"I really can't go back now, can I?" Kratos knew that Dist wasn't referring to the life he had when he was still in Keterburg, when Nebilim was still alive. "What should I do from now on?"

"Your life is your own and you need to decide for yourself what is best for you, though I could give you some guidance if you want. It's a hard thing to change, I have also been through this so I understand, remember that no one could do it themselves and I am here to help you." At this, Kratos stood up and began making his way to the entrance of Dist's room.

"You leaving?"

"You haven't ingested anything except water for the past two days or maybe longer. It's near breakfast time and I am going to grab some food for you."

"But you weren't working here... how? You can't get to the cantee- Wait, so you really are working for the Fon Master?"

"No, I told you my actions are my own, I just happen to know some people here that could help me with that." Kratos answered as he stood near the entrance of the room looking back at Dist.

"Th-"

"I know you have many questions to ask me, I give you my word that I will answer them in due time, but right now you need food if you don't want to suddenly collapse again."

"You still haven't told me why you decided to help me?"

"It is sad to witness a young man like you spiraling downwards and I don't want to see anymore tragedies befalling others if I have the power to prevent it. That and you are one of the few people that willingly call me a friend in a long time."

"Is it just me or was it your intention to make it sound like something coming from the mouth of a wise old hermit?"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for the long wait... First thing first, thanks for the great reviews! I know I usually respond to the reviews I got in my previous chapter, but I am a bit busy (maybe also a bit lazy) to do that from now on. But I want you reviewers to know that I really appreciate your reviews!

As I have mentioned at the end of last chapter and the beginning of this chapter, I have been busy (and a bit lazy) lately... then since I stopped writing for such a long time I needed to find something to motivate myself again. I found two really nice AMVs of TOA that helped me (and also your great reviews) pick up my pen (*cough* I mean keyboard) again. If you want to know, the AMVs are in Niconico and the songs are 'Tune the Rainbow' and 'From Y to Y', I highly recommend you watch it if you are a TOA fan and like watching MVs. If you don't know Niconico, just search for 'アビス tune the rainbow' and 'Tales of the Abyss From Y to Y' in google. If you decide to take a look at them and don't understand the Japanese lyrics, I suggest you google the lyrics to see how the lyrics of both songs match the game and the MVs.

So, in this chapter Dist earned himself the title 'the most annoying person in the world' and Kratos earned himself the title 'the pseudo psychologist'... I hope he just didn't sound too OOC... though I could imagine him doing the 'psychological treatment' for Lloyd if he ever needs it. The 'psychological treatment' part of this chapter was the part that made me had a huge writer block. But now that that's done with, let's hope that I would be able to update regularly from now on... though I don't think it would be anywhere as frequently as when I first started writing this fic...

_Uploaded on 11 October 2012. Edited on 4 May 2013._


	18. Duties of Friendship

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking; __Character remembering a past conversation_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 17: Duties of Friendship**

Dist was playing with the food before him with a fork as he tried to figure out how he should approach this. He was glad that he could still be friends with Kratos and Kratos had offered to help him get over his inner demons. As Kratos had said, it was hard to change, but he was just realizing exactly how hard it was.

Kratos told him to decide for himself as his life was his own... he didn't know how, but he felt like his life wasn't really his own and he really didn't get to have any say in it back when he was still in Malkuth. It was like Jade had always been there to decide everything for him and he never had to worry about what to do and what not to do. Then if and when Jade wasn't there to decide for him, he would just go back to the lab and try to find ways to perfect Fomicry.

"-ter."

Now that he had had the time to really think things through, he realized how indecisive he really was. Sure, he was quick to decide when it came to Fontech related stuff, but if it was about something as big as his own life... who was he kidding, the first time he tried to think for himself, he decided to leave Grand Chokmah and look where it got him. Well, there was some good in it, like how had met Kratos and how he finally got over his obsession with Ja_- _Professor Nebilim. And now he was once again faced with some life changing decision, only this time he wasn't blinded by sadness and rage and had an indefinite time to really _think_ about it before deciding.

"Mister!"

Startled out of his thought, Dist nearly jumped from his chair and slowly looked up to see an annoyed kitchen staff.

"I'm sorry?" He asked with a confused tone.

"I need your plate so we could finish cleaning up."

Dist blinked twice as he finally remembered where he was. He quickly looked around and realized that he was the only one left in the cafeteria, except the kitchen staff before him. "Oh umm, right, I need to go now." Standing up, he briefly glanced at the breakfast which he didn't even have a single bite and exited the cafeteria into the empty hallway.

Today was a public holiday in Daath, something about the birthday of the first Fon Master, and most of the people working for the Order had left the Oracles Headquarters. The few that did remain in the Headquarters were those that decided to spend their day resting in their room, which Dist was also going to do, well, not the resting part, but he would most likely spend the whole day in his room reading the books he recently sneaked out of the restricted section of the archive and driving himself mad thinking about what he should do from now on. Not the most exciting holiday, but he was never a holiday person, at least not after Professor Nebilim died.

It was nearly a month since Kratos told him about Van's and his motive. To tell the truth, he didn't understand why the Score was so important. Well yeah, he worked for the Order of Lorelei and one of his job description was to protect the Score, not to mention how the Score was the thing that predicted the future... like he really believed the crap about the Score determining one's life.

Seriously, he was a scientist, a man of logic and fact, albeit a bit emotional at times, like hell he was going to rely on the Score for his life. As it was, he didn't understand why Kratos, a mercenary – though he highly doubted it was his real job – would care about the Score.

If it was anyone else asking him to do something about the Score, he would have turned them down even before they finished their request. The point was, Kratos was his friend – well, maybe not really, but at least someone willing to listen to him and help him – and this wasn't the first time he helped a friend in some delusional cause – though he didn't think finding a way to defy death was delusional until recently.

The _job description_ laid down to him by Kratos wasn't much: to continue to work for Van and let Kratos know about what Van told him to do. So basically, Kratos wanted him to become a spy, which wasn't all that difficult right now, considering Van and Largo were on a mission since three weeks ago.

He hated to know that there was a motive behind Kratos getting close to him, it didn't matter Kratos told him time and again that he wasn't helping him just because of this. To tell the truth, the mercenary had already convinced him about it, but Dist was just too stubborn to let him know about it, though he had a feeling Kratos already knew... really, was he that easy to read? When it came to auburn haired man, he felt like an open book and Kratos could just easily tell what he was really thinking about, just like Jade, and to some extent Pea-br-

His thought was rudely interrupted as he felt his body being pulled forward and his head bombarded with something solid. His glasses were pressing uncomfortably against his nose and he tried to use his hand to take off the offending item. It was then he realized that it was a man he had bumped – _pulled – _into and he was currently being crushed in a bear hug and couldn't move his arms.

He wanted to shout at the man about something along the lines of 'imbecile' and 'hugging the wrong person' but the force of the hug increased to the point that he swore his lungs would be crushed in another few seconds and the words he wanted to say came out as something like a groan instead.

Just as he was about to resort to the method he used whenever a certain stupid crown prince bear hugged him: stomping on the other's foot with all his might, which only succeeded the first few times before that stupid someone _learned _to avoid being stomped, the person released him and held him at arm's length by gripping his arms in a not-too-loose-but-not-too-tight manner. Dist took a moment to make sure he could still breathe and let air fill his lungs again before looking up the person –_ imbecile – _and began to shout at him. However, the only thing that got out of his mouth was a gasp as his eyes widened at the person beaming at him.

"Wha- what the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that something to say to your boss?"

"You aren't my boss!"

"Oh well, former boss then."

"You. Were. Never. My. Boss! And don't evade my question!"

"Touchy. I see you haven't changed much, Sa-"

"Stop!" Dist half shouted and briefly glanced around to make sure they were the only people occupying the hallway. Then without warning, he grabbed the arm of the person and started dragging him towards his room.

He was grateful that the person behind him didn't say anything else and just followed him without any resistance. He was also grateful that it was a holiday and nobody was there to see him dragging the would-be Emperor of Malkuth along. Yes, the _imbecile_ that nearly crushed him with a powerful bear hug and self proclaimed to be his _former boss_ was none other than the stupid Crown Prince of Malkuth, Peony Upala Malkuth, who, for whatever bizarre reason, appeared in the corridor of the Oracles Headquarters in Daath, a city miles away from Grand Chokmah, the city he _should be_ in.

_Why was Pea-brain here anyway?_ The most logical thing that came to his mind was to arrest him, but he highly doubted it. After all, what prince would go to another country just to catch a criminal without any guards, albeit they were _friends _before all this happened? … right, Peony would, forgot he asked such an obvious and stupid question. But then...

_"It seems one of your friends had had a heated debate on something about the law structure of Malkuth with their Emperor."_

He knew Jade would never do something like that, not even when someone put a knife next to his throat. He played with the idea that Peony would do something like that, he wouldn't put it past the stupid prince to do something as stupid as that and increase the already very high tension between him and his father, but his pride didn't want to admit that Peony would do anything like this for him. So he thought it was just Kratos trying to put him on a guilt trip.

* * *

"Your room?" The prince asked as he took in the room they just entered.

The other person in the room just looked at Peony with a look that said 'what are you, stupid?'

"Now don't be like that, I just haven't realized you love me so much that you have to stop me mid sentence to drag me to your room. Never knew you are the aggressive type." Peony said as he flashed his best 'lady killer' smile towards his friend.

"Wha- you- !" Peony watched with amusement as the pale scientist's face turned pink, then red, then purple, then finally back to red again in less than five seconds at his teasing.

Then, after about a minute of silence later, a somewhat calm voice hissed, if it was possible to use the word calm and hissed together. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Peony was surprised at Saphir's ability to regain composure so quickly, normally there would also be some throwing and something breaking involved when he teased the smaller man like this. To his knowledge, this was the quickest for him to calm down without Jade's interference, which, now that he thought about it, Jade's interference only really add oil to the fire, though the words themselves shouldn't have this effect. The blond hid his surprise by putting up his 'stupid grin', as the other so dubbed it.

"You don't have to repeat, I heard you perfectly well the first time." Peony said and waved off his friend's indignant look.

"So?"

"Can't I visit my favorite scientist?" Peony saw Saphir's eyebrow ticked at least twice before he even finished the word 'scientist'.

"I'm not _your_ favorite scientist! And you couldn't have known where I am, if you knew beforehand, I wouldn't be in Daath right now, but Grand Chokmah waiting for my doom."

"Oh stop being so dramatic, drama queen, the only law you have broken is leaving Grand Chokmah without any notice-"

"And took away precious military secrets, I doubt that's a light crime." Saphir said bitterly, pretending that he hadn't heard the comment about 'drama queen'.

"But you haven't stolen anything."

"Yes I have. They are all here." Saphir said as he tapped his finger against his skull. "It is a breach of contract for military scientist to leave Grand Chokmah without permission anyway."

Penoy raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Are you somehow communicating with my father?"

Saphir blinked at the question. "The Emperor? Of course not. Why?"

"The both of you are using the same argument."

"So it's true..." Saphir muttered to himself after a moment of silence.

"What's true?"

He shook his head to let Peony know it's nothing of importance, or something that wasn't his business anyway. "You shouldn't go against your father, not so soon after your argument with him about who to marry."

Peony's smile faltered for only a split second and winced slightly at the mention of _that_ argument, though in the end they compromised with an agreement that Peony could choose his own bride, the bride had to be from another noble family. It still stung his heart that he couldn't be with Nephry, but he knew now was not the time for him to wallow in grief.

"So why are you here?"

Blinking at his friend's abrupt change in topic, well, not really abrupt, considering this was the third time he asked this question, Peony decided to _finally _answer the question. "Do you remember that the Emperor's birthday is coming?"

Saphir nodded in impatience as he thought Peony was once again trying to evade the question.

"Every year around this time an ambassador would come to Daath to retrieve the coming year's birth Score for him."

Now it was Saphir's turn to blink. "You mean you are the ambassador? Why would they choose a crown prince to do it? And why are you alone? Where are the guards? Didn't you know today is a public holiday in Daath and you wouldn't be able to meet the Fon Master today?"

"Yes. They didn't, I volunteered. I sneaked out. They should still be standing in front of the door of the now empty guest room guarding against invisible threat and will be racing across the corridor trying to find me in another few hours, when lunch time comes and they found that I'm not in the room when they deliver lunch. And I know today is the birthday of the first Fon Master, I insisted that we arrive on this day so I could get a grip of the surroundings before meeting the Fon Master, though you should have guessed that my real reason is anything but that." Peony answered each of the question fluidly, used to his friend's rapid firing questions.

"And before you ask, there are several reasons for my volunteering for the job. First, as you have said, it was a stupid move of me to argue with my father-"

"Understatement of the century."

"- and Sesemann-"

"Who?"

"- one of the councilors, told me to use this as an opportunity to lower the tension between the two of us."

"At least someone has more wits than you."

"Second, I have never been to Daath-"

"Should have known it's for sightseeing."

"- and it would be stupid to waste the chance to come, especially when some of the councilors are actually _backing_ me up for a trip _outside_ Grand Chokmah. And the last reason," he paused and grinned before continuing, "I figured you would be in Daath, after all, where else would you go apart from Keterburg, the most obvious choice? And I highly doubted you would want to go to Chesedonia, too hot for those who grew up in Keterburg."

"What about Kimlasca?"

"Enemy territory, unless you want to die or are willing to sell military secrets to them, which I highly doubted."

"Why?"

"I knew you were upset, and maybe even a bit mad at Jade, but I don't think you would do anything to really betray him."

Saphir sighed at Peony's word. "If you still don't get it, I already betrayed him and he me the day he banned Fomicry."

Now Peony was really amazed at the reply and tone.

_What happened to the Saphir I know? He sounded defeated, I thought he would either be screaming bloody murder or go down in tears the moment I mentioned Jade. And he even mentioned Fomicry himself without even raising his voice. Now that I think about it, this had to be the longest conversation I have had with him without him insulting me, apart from the half-hearted snide remarks insulating how stupid he thought I am. The point is, Saphir never did subtle when it comes to insulting or shouting at me._

"What?" Saphir glared at the surprise on Peony's face.

"... I just realized that this is the longest conversation between the two of us without you yelling at or outright insulting me."

"Oh is it?" Saphir just shrugged at Peony's observation.

"No really, what happened? Is it- is it because you think I am going to arrest you and take you back to Grand Chokmah?"

"Are you?"

"No, of course not! You are now under Daath's protection and unless someone recognized you as the runaway scientist and decided to report it to Malkuth, you are a free man."

"Or unless someone with authority from Malkuth asks the Fon Master and the Grand Maestro to hand me over and they concede, which reminds me to look out for when authorities from Malkuth decided to pay a visit to Daath and hide myself or leave Daath for a few days."

Seeing Peony's dumbfounded look at his reply, he snickered and said, "I know you aren't going to arrest me, if you were, you wouldn't have me crushed with that bear hug when you first saw me, or were you actually trying to kill me with that?"

"Who are you? What have you done to my Saphir?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I am not yours before your tiny brain could finally register the sentence!? And for your information, I am now Dist, not Saphir Wyon Neis, at least not when I am in Daath."

"Dist? Did you forge your documents so you could work here?"

"Do you see any other way for any legal organisation to accept a criminal as their employee, dumbass?"

"I never knew you know how to do something like that."

"Someone else did it for me."

"Make sense. So does that mean you are staying?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean are you not coming back?"

"And get thrown into jail?"

"We will do something about that."

"You mean just you, right?"

_Am I really such a bad liar?_ Peony mused. "Are you angry at Jade?"

"... maybe. Why?"

"The only reason I can think of for you not to want to come back to Grand Chokmah is that you don't want to face him."

"And that I don't want to be thrown into jail." Saphir dead-panned.

The crown prince nearly cried out in frustration at that. "Dammit, Saphir, I told you I will figure something out. Even if I can't, I can at least lessen the time for your punishment."

Saphir sighed, then after a while, he said, "first off, I am not that angry at Jade-"

"As if."

"- I just don't want to face him-"

"You scared?"

"- that's none of your business. Also, you should drop this whole 'law debate' thing. I could just wait till the time limit for arresting me is up. How long is it again? Ten years?"

"Eleven years. But that's too risky, what if-"

"And I agree with that councilor, what's his name again?"

"Sesemann."

"That you need to do something to reduce the tension between the two of you. Don't do anything stupid to anger the Emperor anymore, at least not until you become the Emperor."

This time Peony gasped at the words and looked at him with bulged eyes. "Are you... looking out for me?"

"Just returning a favor, you know how I hate to be in _your _debt." The scientist said as he narrowed his eyes in irritation.

"So what changed?"

"Nothing's changed, except that I have decided to continue my life in Daath."

"... so you really aren't coming back to Grand Chokmah? I thought you would die to have a chance to beg for Jade's forgiveness." There, he finally caught a glimpse of the old Saphir whenever it came to stuff about Jade as he noticed his friend's bloodshot eyes when he joked about the part 'beg for Jade's forgiveness'. However, he wasn't prepared for his friends next words.

"Not anymore. I don't even want to see that four eyed snake." Saphir nearly spat out the words.

Now Peony was really worried, he had never heard his friend said anything with a tone that was even remotely venomous about Jade, and definitely not making any negative nicknames for him. Hell, Saphir practically worshiped every step Jade took. Sure, he had purposely said those words, but he only wanted to rile him up, not this cold fury.

"Is it really that difficult for you to accept the fact that I don't want to deal with him? At least not now?" Saphir said tiredly as he noticed the look of bewilderment mixed with worry on Peony.

"Yeah." Peony answered after a while. "To tell the truth, I thought for sure you would come back on your own the first few weeks after you disappeared."

"Sorry to disappoint you then. And before you ask, I am perfectly fine, I just... sort of realized how big the world is after I left Malkuth." Saphir said the last part slowly as if pondering which words to use.

"... can't say I ain't exactly happy about your realization Geeze, it took you what? Twenty two years? And what? Nearly the whole world going after your neck? Damn, if I knew all it took was several life threatening situations, I should have hugged you with all my might more often, maybe just ordering Jade to kill you will do the job."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Saphir asked Peony indignantly.

"Just that you are even cuter than before." Peony said and winked at his friend.

"...I hate you!" Saphir glared at Peony with the most fearsome glare he could muster.

"Thank you, I love you too." Peony said and grinned a toothy grin.

"Yo- you- " He pointed at Peony accusingly as he tried to think of a word to use.

"Yes, my dear?" _Oh, how I miss the old times, now I have to come all the way to Daath just to tease him._

"You are impossible!" He finally exclaimed frustratingly and threw his hands up in surrender.

* * *

Kratos watched the carriage carrying the representatives from Malkuth passed through the city gate and left Daath from the window of the room he was staying in. It wasn't that he needed to sleep or anything like that, but Evenos had insisted him to have his own place in Daath so he could contact him. The place he rented wasn't much, just a normal one bedroom apartment on the third floor of a three-story building with the most basic furniture. The rental fee wasn't all that expensive and the money he gathered from the mercenary jobs he took in the three and a half months he stayed in this planet more than enough covered the rent for nearly a whole year.

He heard a set of footsteps approaching his apartment and glanced at the clock on the wall. _About time. _He thought.

"The door's not locked." He called out as the set of footsteps stopped in front of the door. He winced slightly at the noise as the door creaked open and made a mental note to do something about the door later.

"Why didn't you warn me?" Dist asked as soon as he closed the door behind him.

"About what?"

"You know what I am talking about." Dist said as he crossed his arm before him.

"Did it matter whether I told you beforehand or not?" Kratos half shrugged.

"Of course it mattered! What if I was spotted by the wrong person?" Dist exclaimed.

"Then wasn't it lucky that nothing bad happened?"

Dist noticed the amusement on Kratos' feature and immediately understood what this was about.

"I hate you." Dist muttered, he didn't bother to say it in a low voice for he knew Kratos would have heard him anyway.

"How did you know it was Peony anyway?"

"I was in Grand Chokmah a while ago."

"Right, another mercenary job." Dist said and rolled his eyes, and Kratos could tell that he didn't believe what he himself just said.

"So what is it you want to talk about?"

"... was it true? The part you told me about Malkuth? It wasn't just to guilt me into this, right?"

"I thought you said the Score was rubbish and no sane man should rely on it?"

"I still think it is."

"But?"

"I have been reading some of the books in the archive about the Score's origin from the restricted section. Not much was written about it and it looked like those writing the books did a great job trying to conceal the Score's true origin except that it was read by Yulia two thousand years ago and how she had something like a contract with Lorelei. However, I found a book that mentioned something about the Planet's Memory, though it's a bit vague and I am afraid I will have to do some more research about it when I have the time." Kratos was once again impressed by Dist's information gathering and mystery solving skill.

"You know something about it." Dist narrowed his eyes at Kratos.

"Why would you think that?"

Dist just shrugged at Kratos' question, and upon seeing that Kratos wasn't going to say anything, he continued, "anyway, what I want to say is that there is something fishy about the origin of the Score, yet the world is still going on according to the Score, or people are making sure the world goes according to it. Either way, even if the Score is bullshit, someone, most probably those stupid blindly faithful servants of the Order of Lorelei, will find a way to make it become true."

At Kratos' nod, Dist asked the question again. "So is it true that the Score predicted the destruction of Malkuth in fourteen years?"

"And you want to do something about it." Kratos said, not really answering the question but knew that Dist would have gotten the message.

"There is something I don't understand, if Van is also looking for a way to overthrow the Score, why are you working against and not with him?"

"I am not working against him. I just don't know yet if what Van is going to do will bring more harm or good to the world."

"But I thought you also agree that it is a good thing to overthrow it?" Dist asked with a confused look.

"Yes, but the means doesn't justify the result, I want to know if he is going to do something damaging along his plan. Right now, I am all for it, that's why I am not doing anything yet, but I want to make sure I can find a way to oppose him later if need be."

Dist looked at Kratos with a calculating look. After a while later, he asked, "... you sure you aren't some secret agent from heaven – not that I believe it exists – and was tasked to protect this world or something like that?"

Kratos shook his head slightly. "I think that's a bit far-fetched for a scientist to come up with something like that. And your answer?"

Dist's face heated up at the 'far-fetched' remark. "Fine, you got your spy." Then he noticed the look on Kratos and added, "I am not doing it for Malkuth!"

Kratos was once again amused at Dist's childish behavior. "I know, you are doing it for your friends in Malkuth."

"No I am not!" Dist said indignantly and turned around and left the apartment, slamming the door with all his might behind him as he left.

Kratos wasn't really trying to purposefully tease Dist, at least not like Peony. Every time Kratos sensed that the conversation was drifting more and more towards himself he would say something to make Dist forget what he really wanted to ask Kratos. So far Kratos had successfully dodged any questions Dist had about Kratos' 'unknown power', but he noticed that Dist's guess was getting closer and closer to the bull's eye, which was really surprising considering that Dist was a scientist that didn't even believe in ghost – but was somehow scared of it – and Kratos was what others might considered to be some mythical creature.

Still, Kratos knew that it's a matter of time before he had to finally answer all of Dist's queries, especially considering they would be working together from now on and how efficient Dist was when it came to something that interested him. Another thing Kratos noticed was that Dist seemed to know that Kratos got a really amazing hearing and sight, not to mention that he had stopped asking Kratos about the Fon Slot Seal.

That part could be viewed as Dist got other experiments to work on – which he sure he did – and didn't want to unnecessarily waste time on the reverse Fon Slot Seal if Kratos didn't ask about it first, but he had a gut feeling that the more plausible reason was something along the lines of Dist analyzing the Fon Slot Seal. But then that would be strange, from what Dist told him, what the Fon Slot Seal did was sealing the wild Fon Slots on _his_ _body_ so to not let excess energy leak out, and not sealing his excess energy (Fonon laced with mana?) into the cubic seal itself.

However, to tell the truth, Kratos himself wasn't sure why he was still keeping so much secrets to himself, except that he didn't want to get too attached, which he didn't think apply in this situation. After all, he was sure he would be staying in Auldrant for a really long time and he didn't really have a say in whether he wanted to get attached to others or not. There's also the fact that it's been a long time since he had real interactions with others and he admitted that he wanted to have someone to talk to.

Kratos sighed. _No use dwelling on it now, I will just have to decide on what to tell him and what not when I can't hide it anymore. _

With that, Kratos left his room to go on his self appointed mission, but not before he do something to smooth the hinge of the door so that it wouldn't squeak every time someone or something so much as give it the slightest push.

* * *

Peony was leaning against the rail of the ferry that was going from Daath Bay to Keterburg Bay, then after a night's rest, from Keterburg Bay to Grand Chokmah. To the others, he was just looking at the sea, but to someone that had been staying in Grand Chokmah for the last five years, the sea was the last thing he wanted to watch. No, he was just thinking about the things transpired during his visits in Daath while pretending to look at the sea, as there wasn't much else he could do on a military ferry which only he, the guards and the ferry staffs were on.

Contrary to what Saphir had always insisted, Peony wasn't stupid, and he knew Saphir also knew that, he was just too stubborn to admit it. He was sure there was another reason for Saphir to stay in Daath, and he had several ideas about it. One of those ideas involved Saphir wanting to continue the Fomicry experiments, which he didn't want to admit that there was even a remote possibility that that would be the case. But from Jade's report – despite what Jade might feel about this, he was still a professional soldier and wouldn't exclude anything from or include anything exasperating in the report – he knew there was a high probability for Saphir to do just that.

There was a reason for Peony to mention those things about betrayal and whether Saphir was still angry with Jade, it was to gauge his reaction. However, Saphir's reply had stunned him, in fact, the whole conversation was so not-Saphir like that if Peony wasn't a close friend of Saphir and could pick up the tiniest details like subtle body language, he would have thought he got the wrong person. Not that Saphir had really changed that much, but just his attitude towards any mentions of Jade was enough to make Peony did a double take.

But that wasn't what made Peony dropped the idea of Saphir wanting to continue Fomicry, during their conversation, Saphir hadn't mentioned about any of his experiments – though there were many unfinished gadgets lying around his room – nor about how Peony was wasting his precious time when he could be finishing his projects, not even once. Well, to be fair, he knew Saphir's life didn't just revolve around Fontech, no, his life only revolved around two things, Jade and Fontech. Therefore, without Jade in the picture, he would have thought Saphir would become something like a crazed scientist that the only thing he ever did was research and experiment.

But that's not the case, in fact, he thought Saphir was becoming the opposite of when he was in Grand Chokmah always tagging along Jade's side. Then did that mean the absence of Jade did that to him? Peony highly doubted it. From what he gathered when he was spending time with Saphir – which was quite a lot, considering how he was trained to become the Emperor and one of the most important thing he learned and thrived in was reading people, especially someone as easy to read as Saphir – Saphir had somehow gotten out of his shell, his obsession with Jade and Fontech, and had accepted that Professor Nebilim was gone and that he needed to move on. In fact, Saphir himself confirmed his thoughts when he told him he had 'sort of realized how big the world is'.

What's left to the mystery was what made Saphir change so much in such a short time? It wasn't like he himself would be able to do something like that. He knew that Saphir was actually a very indecisive person, no matter how smart he was when it came to Fontech, and that's why he was always hiding behind Jade's shadow. He understood why Saphir chose to cling to Jade: he wanted to be acknowledged and wanted someone to help him decide, someone that would always be right, at least in Saphir's mind, and someone that was _smarter _than him, at least in the academic sense. Hell, he himself wanted someone to cling onto and help him solve some of his problems when he was being isolated in Keterburg and had chosen to cling onto Jade too, just not as desperate as Saphir.

So that left him to one of his other ideas, that Saphir had found another person to replace Jade, well, replace might not be the best word to use. After all, who liked to be called the replacement of the Necromancer? … forgot he asked such a stupid question, of course thousands of soldiers and Fonists would die to have the chance to be in Jade's shoes. Anyway, back to topic, he was sure there was a third party there helping Saphir out, and he was glad that such a person existed, considering how annoying Saphir could be at times and how he never wanted to find companionship in people other than Jade and maybe Nephry.

Next time he came to Daath – if he could, which in itself was a big if – he would find out who that person was and thank him personally. He wasn't sure what that person did, but they sure did a much better job than Jade, who wasn't even trying. Though he didn't like the fact that Saphir seemed to want to tear Jade's throat out whenever he mentioned Jade, Saphir was becoming a better person and he was glad for the change. Anyway, cold fury didn't fit Saphir and Peony was sure that it would also come to pass given time... right?

It was then that he saw one of his personal guards approaching him. "Your Highness."

"What is it?"

"We are getting closer to Keterburg and it's getting colder. Please return to the cabin."

_This guard must be new. _Peony thought.

"Don't worry, a little snow isn't going to get someone who grew up in Keterburg sick."

"Bu-"

"I am fine, and if I get sick from the cold, it's my responsibility, no one is going to blame you. Now get back to your post." Peony said with an air of authority to stop any further argument from the guard.

"Y- Yes, Your Highness." With that, the guard left Peony's side.

Once Peony was alone again – as alone as he could get on a ferry with guards guarding him – he looked up at the snowing sky. _We have a night to spend in Keterburg, should I go visit Nephry? Maybe I should at least let her know how Saphir is doing. _It pained him whenever his thought drifted to the girl, now woman, that was, and still was, his love.

Saphir told him not to anger the Emperor anymore until he became the Emperor himself, he knew what Saphir really wanted to tell him was that he could do whatever he wanted, within reasons, after he became the Emperor, like marrying a woman from a non-noble family. He was grateful when Saphir hinted him about this, he knew it was his own way to comfort him. Saphir might have changed, but Peony thought he would really die from a heart attack if Saphir outright told him not to worry and that everything would be fine... err... those cliche lines might be a bit too far fetched, but that's the general idea.

However, what Saphir didn't know and Peony didn't want to tell him – he already had so much to worry about, what with having to hide for the next eleven years or so – was that Nephry was going to get married to the governor of Keterburg, against her will no less, as it was something that was written on her birth Score for the coming year. Even if he were to use the authority of the Emperor to make Nephry divorce and remarry him, which was a scary thought and he would never abuse his power like that, he wouldn't be able to do it unless it was written in the Score, too.

He knew the Score was important, but he couldn't help his hatred towards it at times like this. However, at the same time, he knew it didn't matter what he felt about the Score. He was going to be the Emperor of a whole nation, and what Emperor would he be if he put his own need before his people? His people needed the Score, that was their guidance in life, not the Emperor. It was the Emperor that leaded them, but it was the Score that guided them.

He knew the command of the Emperor dwarfed in comparison to the Score and he had accepted this fact long ago. He wouldn't deprive his people of what they needed. He had always hated the way his father ruled, a ruthless ruler that ruled with fear, that's why when it was his time to be the Emperor, he would go so far as burying his own need and going against his own will if it meant the happiness of his people.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

How I love Dist-Peony interaction, it is just so funny. By the way, about the sentence 'Saphir practically worshipped every step Jade took', I think I have seen it somewhere before, but I can't remember where. If it is from another fanfic and it is your fanfic, please forgive me for unconsciously using your sentence.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I referred to Dist as Saphir in the second and last part of this chapter. It is because these two parts are from Peony's perspective and I don't think Peony will ever call Saphir Dist willingly. When I wrote the last part of this chapter, I started loving Peony more and more, not that he wasn't already one of my favourite characters. I have always liked how Peony was a kind Emperor that put his people before him, like when he sent Jade, one of his remaining friend, to Baticul, enemy territory, for a peace treaty.

Again, thanks for the reviews! Though I am not sure where you get the feeling that I am going to drop this fic. Don't worry, I may not be able to update as frequently as before, but I won't stop writing. Until next time^^

_Uploaded on 21 October 2012. Edited on 4 May 2013._


	19. Individual Circumstances

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 18: Individual Circumstances**

The sight of the capital of Malkuth would have stunned anyone who first visited it. After all, it wasn't everyday you got to see a city floating on the sea. The capital of Malkuth, Grand Chokmah, was made up of six large pieces of land floating on the sea, each was shaped circularly and was surrounded by high walls. Five of them were positioned such that they were at the corners of a pentagon while the last one, where the castle was situated, was in the middle of the pentagon.

If people looked at them from the outside, they would see six heavily equipped fortresses. However, from the inside, instead of concrete walls, all people could see was a huge waterfall surrounding them. The fortresses were connected to each other through a network of bridges and aqueducts controlled by Fonic Artes. Grand Chokmah was surely a sight to behold to those who first visited the place. However, to a certain Crown Prince, Grand Chokmah was the last place he wanted to be in right now.

_So I am back to my personal prison... I suppose all good things have to come to an end eventually. At least I got to see Nephry one last time before she is married and confirmed with her that we will still be friends... right... she is going to get married... and we are... just friends..._ The atmosphere surrounding Peony grew gloomier and gloomier as his thoughts once again drifted to his first love that he could never be with.

_Well, no use getting all down. I would just scare the beautiful maids tending to my pets._ Peony tried to lift up his mood by thinking of the pets he left behind as he walked to the garden, where the guards told him his pets were in.

"Welcome back, Your Highness." The maids said in unison as soon as they spotted their prince approaching.

Peony nodded. "Thanks for taking care of them, you may now go."

The maids nodded and went on their way, leaving Peony and his pets – four rappigs – in the garden.

Peony smiled as he saw his rappigs, Gelda, Nephry, Jade and Saphir – he first thought to name them with the names of his friends so that people wouldn't get suspicious if he accidentally called out their names when he was supposed to be isolated and wasn't supposed to make any friends, but it was fun whenever he called Jade and Saphir in front of the _human _Jade and Saphir – came at him and were soon eagerly rubbing themselves against his legs. He knelt down and spread his arms and hugged two of his rappigs. "So you missed Papa, right? Papa also missed you guys very much too~"

He released the rappigs – Nephry and Jade – and turned to look at the other two.

_Professor Nebilim would be glad and proud to know that Saphir has finally gotten over her death and decided to come out of Jade's shadow. _Peony thought as he patted Gelda. He had wanted to visit his teacher's grave, but he didn't have the time to do so seeing that he only had one night in Keterburg.

He felt something bumping into his hand and turned to see that it was his final rappig, the one he named Saphir, pressing its head against his hand.

His smile grew as he let go of Gelda and turned his full attention towards his last pet. He patted it twice and put his hand flat before it. The rappig sniffed his hand and Peony suddenly hugged it tightly and began squeezing it as if it were a plush toy.

"Aww, Saphir you are so cute!" Peony exclaimed.

_If only the other Saphir would show more affection towards me. Though I guess this visit went better than I first thought. _What Peony had in mind when he first thought of his meeting with Saphir involved lots of yelling and things breaking.

He slowly released Saphir as he sighed dramatically at the thought of not being able to 'play' with the other Saphir in the near future.

"Something happened during your trip to Daath? You seem much happier than usual, Your Highness." A voice called out from behind him.

_Aw crap, it's Jade! He would know something's up!_

"Of course I am happy, I got the chance to leave this prison and visit Daath, a place I have never been to before." Peony replied without turning back to face Jade and continued tending to his pets in his kneeling position on the ground.

"That would make sense if you are going to and not returning from Daath." Jade said with his eerily calm voice.

"Well, what can you say, I finally get to see my cute little Jade again." Peony said delightfully as he picked up the rappig named Jade and lifted it up into the air above him and made some cooing noise.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, it is highly inappropriate to intentionally name one's pets with their friends' names." Peony could hear the irritation in Jade's tone and smirked.

"Why? You know how I am with scary guys. If it isn't for my cute little Jade, I would have forgotten your name at least a thousand times already." Peony whined.

Jade sighed. "So is Your Highness ready to let little old scary me know what happened to make him more happier than usual?"

"You implying something?" Peony decided to throw the question back to Jade, thinking it would be easier and better to figure out how to counter or if he had to go with Jade's assumption. _Best to test the water first before saying something stupid._

"You met someone." The tone changed slightly and Peony could _literally _feel the air becoming a bit colder.

"Oh yeah, we stopped at Keterburg for a night and I got to spend some time with Nephry." Peony tried to say it with a somewhat nonchalant and dismissal tone, glad that Jade was facing his back at the moment.

_That should be okay, seeing as how Jade was away till yesterday and won't be able to know about Nephry's engagement yet._

"That was the worst lie you could have come up Your Highness." Jade said with the eerily calm and empty voice of his again.

"Wha-"

"Despite how distant we have always been, don't you think Nephry would write a letter to her brother to let him know about her engagement?"

… _right... if I figured out Saphir is in Daath, then there is no reason for Jade not to have figured it out... maybe he figured it out even earlier than me..._

Peony sighed. He stood up and turned to face Jade. "Then why are we having this conversation?" He asked with narrowed eyes and crossed his arms before him.

"Just want to confirm something." Jade said in a nonchalant tone and shrugged.

He then tilted his head in such a way that his eyes were obscured from the light being reflected from his glasses and said in a serious tone. "I think you should find a way to prevent me from going to Daath in the near future."

"Wha-"

"Good day Your Highness." Jade added cheerfully, once again interrupting Peony, the reflection in his glasses disappearing as he lifted his head slightly and gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes to the other. He clicked his heels together and left the stunned prince and his pets.

_Wha- what was that about?_

* * *

"So Dist is now on our side, not Van's, good, so why did you come? I doubt it's just to tell me this news or to spar with me." Cantabile said while doing some stretching exercise. She had received a note from Kratos the day before asking to meet in a forest outside Belkend.

"I want to know how that experiment is progressing as we haven't heard from you last month." Kratos said. He was leaning against a tree not far from Cantabile.

"Nothing much really. Remember what I wrote in the last report about needing more space for the second stage?" Cantabile asked and stood up from her stretching position.

Seeing Kratos' nod, she continued, "they are moving operation base and almost everything is stopped for the time being until they find a place to move to."

"I have heard as much. Any idea where?"

"I see, Dist told you already, and nope, no idea where it will be." Cantabile shrugged. "Though I've heard that Van and Largo have found the place already and are doing some cleaning up."

"They are doing it themselves?"

"Seems they don't want too many people in on it yet. And before you ask, they finished their missions early and got some spare time for their own activity."

Kratos thought about it for a while. "Then it may be a long time till they can move to this place."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. By the way, how much did you tell Dist?"

"Enough."

"Evenos' and my involvement?"

"He guessed that Evenos is in it and I told him that there are others involved in it."

"Guess I'll have to make an appearance and introduce myself then." There was a strange glint in Cantabile's eyes as she thought of meeting the 'insufferable' scientist as she heard the others called him.

The glint disappeared soon and Kratos continued, "Evenos wants me to let you know that you don't have to be here anymore and to come back to Daath to resume your other duties."

"Because we have Dist doing that?" Cantabile narrowed her eyes and gazed sharply at Kratos, who didn't say anything but stared back. "I don't like the sound of it. Are you trying to say I am not needed in this anymore now that we have a spy?"

"You of all people should know that that isn't what Evenos has in mind."

Neither said anything after that and just stared at each other. "I understand... it's just that I have been in this so long that it sounds a bit unfair to draw me out now. Then there is also..." She averted her gaze from Kratos' and her voice grew softer as she said the last four words and just trailed off there.

"It's about Van, isn't it?" Kratos asked, recalling the girl's determination to stop one of her only remaining childhood friends from doing anything stupid.

Cantabile lowered her head and looked at the ground, her hands balled into fists by her sides.

"If my assumption is correct, this will soon become something more than just a few of us can handle. We need as much help as we can find. We aren't just pulling you out from this, as I'm sure you already figured out. Yes, your stealth is suited for spying, but you are still young and we should also exploit your other talents."

Cantabile released her fists, but she still hung her head. "I know, I wasn't trying to throw a fit or anything like that."

She then looked up at Kratos. "What does Evenos want me to do?"

"For now, just continue to be a loyal and efficient soldier to the Order."

Cantabile thought for a while and slowly drawled out her words. "So I am to play nice and see if I can get as high a position as possible to have more influence over the Oracles?"

The corner of Kratos' lips tugged at Cantabile's words.

Cantabile smirked and said. "Fine. Is that all?"

"Pretty much."

"Then let the fun part begins." Cantabile said and charged at Kratos with her hand on the hilt of her sword.

Kratos would have sighed if time allowed, but Cantabile was already closing the distance between them fast. He unsheathed his own sword and waited for the girl's first strike.

* * *

"This should do." Dist said, despite being the only occupant of his room.

He was finalising the first stage of the 'flying chair' project of his. One would never understand why he always seemed to have so much free time to work on his own projects, but it was true that he did have a lot of free time, being a researcher and all, or maybe it's just him. After all, being the assistant of the head scientist had it's perks.

The head scientist, who he forgot the name of, was also one of Van's underlings – he hadn't known till Kratos told him that there were other people working for Van, which now he realized was actually quite obvious that that guy was working for Van – and allowed him as much free time as possible to work on his _other _project_,_ not that he was doing it right now, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt.

He only had to show up in the lab once a day, did something productive and reported the progress of the project he was assigned to do and sometimes supervised the others' work, which to him was something that was as easy as taking a walk in the park. It wasn't like he didn't have any interest in the projects being carried out in the lab – well, he wasn't really interested before when he was still focused on Fomicry, but not now, he was always interested in anything Fontech related – but he was always shooed away by the head scientist when he spent too much time staying behind working on Order related projects so he could work on what Van wanted him to do.

Though he himself hadn't made much progress with Fomicry, to Van, he _did _make some progress. All he had to do was give a report that detailed the things he already did several years ago. From his previous conversations with Van, he noticed that Van didn't know exactly what he had accomplished during his years in Grand Chokmah.

So that's what he's doing now, working on his own projects while occasionally making some progress on Fomicry, then gave Van a thorough report on what he _did_ a long time ago. He was glad he hadn't told Van too much about his actual progress when he first came to Daath and his memory was so good that he didn't have to do too much extra work to reproduce a plausible report to present it to the other man.

However, written reports were not the only thing Van wanted to see, he also needed to produce something solid. He did tell Van when he first arrived that he could finish the machine for Fomicry in five weeks, but he told Van at a later time that he needed as much space as he could if that machine was to replicate anything larger than a sword and Van could use that machine on living beings if he didn't mind the original 'disappearing'.

Van had told him not to build anything till he could find a place that was more spacious for him to work. He didn't know when and where he would have to move to this new place, but it didn't matter how long it would take for Van to locate this place. It just meant that he had more time to work on his own projects and less time to work on Van's project.

He pressed a button on a switchboard that had wires extending to the back of the chair and took the readings from the computer that also had some wires linking it to the chair. Satisfied with the readings, he turned off the power to the switchboard.

"Now for the second stage." He muttered to himself.

It had taken him another month to finally figure out what he did wrong and made the necessary correction. He was amazed at his own stupidity when he realised his mistake, one only an amateur would make – well, at least to someone the calibre of the genius of Keterburg, it was an amateur mistake – and blamed it on his lack of sleep and inability to think straight back then.

Although he said it himself that the first stage was complete, it wasn't really, at least not until he could do a field test – like hell he was going to let loose a _flying _chair in his own room – and would have to wait for a verylong time till he could do a field test, as it would be too suspicious for him to have the time to invent a flying chair when he was supposed to be working on Fomicry, and a chair flying in the sky was just too _hard_ to miss. He just couldn't resist the urge to finish it as soon as possible even though he wouldn't be able to test, much less use, it in the near future.

The second stage of the experiment was to find a way to tune his copy of a flightstone to the frequency of his own Fonon so he could control it with his thinking alone. That wouldn't be too difficult – at least that's what he thought – as he had already done it to the scythe, his choice of weapon when he trained with Kratos.

Yes, he still trained with Kratos... though he still whined every ten minutes or so that he had had enough and needed to go back to his research. Therefore, the training sessions, if you could really call it that, were at most half an hour (usually only fifteen to twenty minutes) and only once per fortnight. He knew it's a very slow progress, but what could he say? He was still just a researcher and he was only learning basic stuffs, though the idea of becoming so strong that he could beat Jade was very attractive at times, he just didn't have the heart, and muscle, to do manual labor.

At least Kratos didn't ask him to work on his muscles – he didn't think he had any at all now that he thought about it – and told him to work on being stealth instead. That's why he put this flying chair project on top priority, even though he couldn't use it till much later. Maybe later he would also work on shoes that made him run faster, he just hated to resort to doing something like doing exercise regularly to increase his agility.

Anyway, back to topic, he already found a way to tune a dead object to his own Fonon frequency once, he could do it again... just that this time it might take much longer seeing that he had to make the flightstone respond to his _every _thought, but he loved this kind of challenge, so it's fine.

Speaking of challenge, he still had the mystery that was called Kratos and the origin of Score that he still hadn't figured out yet. He had read almost all the books he could get his hands on in Daath about the origin of Score and the only useful information he found was something called the Planet's Memory.

As he had told the mercenary before, it's a bit vague, but just from the term and his own knowledge of the Score, he could make a wild guess that what Yulia did wasn't just predict the future, but convert the Planet's Memory, something that might be written in codes in Seventh Fonon or something like that, into human language and etched the coding she managed to break onto some stones and called them fonstones.

His expertise wasn't on the Score and even after knowing, well, more like guessing, that piece of information, he still didn't think it's vital for him to get to the bottom of it. Kratos obviously knew something about it, but he wasn't in a hurry, so he would just wait till Kratos thought that it's about time for him to knew all about the Score.

Right, Kratos, the second mystery that he wanted to solve. He had known from the time when Kratos healed him when they were near Belkend that his power wasn't normal. He was a researcher researching on dangerous subjects, he had his own share of getting hurt, quite badly at times too, and being healed by Seventh Fonists even before he came to Daath.

He just hadn't really thought about it before as there was too much on his mind at the time being, but when he really had the time to just think about it, the healing power that Kratos exhibited was a bit too strong even for a practicedhealer. He also remembered the slightly off color glow that appeared when his wound, a really nasty gash, was being healed.

He hadn't seen another Seventh Fonist using Judgement before so he couldn't tell if Kratos' Judgement was different from the norm, but he knew that it was rare, if not downright impossible, for even the top Seventh Fonists in Malkuth to know how to use that. He also knew that Kratos got very good hearing and visibility, which was the only explanation he could come up with for him being able to easily tell which direction didn't have any monster during that accident in Belkend and could tell which window was opened in the lab in Belkend during the dead of night. Although those could be pulled off as just someone who was very very _very _well trained, he didn't think that's the case here.

That and combined with his other theories, Kratos would be someone who was a very good warrior with some unknown power, something that shouldn't exist or just hadn't been discovered yet, like an Eighth Fonon, and due to whatever bizarre reason, got his hands on the Seventh Fonon and became a pseudo Seventh Fonist. If Kratos was really something like an Eighth Fonist, then the Eighth Fonon would have to have a great compatibility with the Seventh Fonon for nothing damaging to happen to the auburn haired man when he was exposed to the Seventh Fonon when he touched that Fonstone - another mystery he swore he would get to the bottom of... someday.

Now there came the tricky part, if the Eighth Fonon really existed, someone ought to have discovered it and make it known worldwide by now, considering how much good the Seventh Fonon did to mankind, it would be like a _sin_ to conceal the existence of the Eighth Fonon, but Kratos did just that: not wanting his secrets revealed to others.

There was also the fact that if there really was an Eighth Fonon, it should represent something that _opposed_ the Seventh Fonon. But what opposed sound? Silence? That just sounds weird. And an Eighth Fonist would be the last one to have the compatibility to become a pseudo Seventh Fonist, unless it's inborn, which he already confirmed with Kratos that that wasn't the case. And Kratos _healed _him before he became a pseudo Seventh Fonist, so he couldn't be an Eighth Fonist, if that existed in the first place.

So he came to the conclusion that it's something that shouldn't exist on Auldrant. Well, it wasn't really a conclusion... more like he just made it more complicated than it already was... no, complicated wasn't the most suitable word for it – his most complicated theory included something like the existence of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Fonon, which he wasn't going there _again_, Lorelei knew how his head hurt just thinking about it, and it's a rare thing that his head hurt from thinking up theories – it's more like he just went back to square one.

He knew he could always try the most straightforward method: ask Kratos. He also knew Kratos knew when the conversation was drifting towards him and would just find a way to distract him from what he really wanted to say. He was fine with that, well, not really, but he was just that easily manipulated by words – yes, he admitted that being easy to manipulate was one of his greatest weakness – even though he was very aware what the man was doing.

Now the flow was becoming something like this: he would ask a question about Kratos and Kratos would say something that would trigger a very immediate effect on him and they would just leave it at that. It had sort of become a habit already and he was now only halfheartedly making a comment here and there and not really expecting any response to those comments.

He knew he was clingy – something that Ja_- _the others always told him – but he also knew about personal space and when to stop prying. He still had a long time to work with Kratos, at least that's what he thought, and he was sure Kratos would tell him later, maybe after all this stuff about the Score had passed. After all, Kratos promised him to let him know all the answers to his questions in due time.

* * *

**Loreleiday, Lorelei-Redecan 45, ND 2006**

It was the third one this year and it's driving him crazy. It was a little over one and a half year - one year and nine months to be exact - since his son picked up interest, real interest, not the fake one he displayed, or sometimes didn't even bother to fake, in swordsmanship. He was glad for the change, the only problem, the only _big_ problem was that he was very picky when it came to who he learned from.

He understood why his son was this picky, even agreed with him. After all, only the best of the best was suited to teach the chosen child of Lorelei and future King of Kimlasca the art of swordsmanship. However, it wasn't like the ones he hired to teach his son were just some random nobody he picked up from the street. He now regretted his decision to agree with his son when he told him explicitly not to find anyone that served under the King as he didn't want himself to become something like a copy of an already existing soldiers and let him decide whether the person was suited to teach him himself.

He had been gathering information and sending out invitations to sword masters from different cities throughout the whole Kimlasca. Those who were invited were pleased that the Duke would want them to be his only child's sword teacher and always showed up in their doorstep as soon as possible. Then came the hard part, the part where Luke became the judge to see if they were worthy enough for his to call them master. Well, he called them master alright, but the problem was whether he was going to call them that title for long.

He had to agree with his son's decision to ditch some of the teachers when they started to fawn over him all the while asking if the young master was hurt or if the young master needed to take a break or something like that. It was almost as if he was going to fire them or do something worse to them the moment his son so much as grunted from tiredness or the slightest pain. Really, his son was six already and those who bore the surname Fabre shouldn't be fawned over at all.

Still, there were some better than that, which usually lasted much longer. However, when the time, about a month or two since they first arrived, came and Luke had to ask that _question, _none passed his little test.

He was tempted, no, not just tempted, he _tried _to hire that mercenary, Kratos Aurion if he remembered correctly, to come and teach Luke how to fight with his sword. The problem was that he _tried, _but never succeeded in finding him. He was a Duke and could pull many strings to find a person, but no, he couldn't find any record – which really wasn't that surprising, considering he was a travelling mercenary and might have been born in Malkuth for all he knew – and not even a trace of the man.

He heard of a man looking like him being spotted in Belkend about a month or so after his son's kidnap and that's it. Though he wouldn't put it past the mercenary being actively involved in different jobs in Malkuth. The two nations wasn't warring against each other at the moment, but the tension was at a permanent high that a wrong move or question would likely trigger another war, especially if said move or question came from someone with such a high position as the Duke.

_Maybe I should search in Daath nex-_

His thought was interrupted by knocking on the door to his office. "Come in."

"Your Grace." The servant said once he slipped into the room.

He looked up to see one of his youngest servant standing by the door but made no move to come any closer. "What is it, Guy?"

"Ramdas told me to tell you that there is someone waiting outside the mansion saying that they had a proposal for you." The blonde haired boy said monotonously.

The Duke noticed that Guy wasn't really looking at him even though he was looking him in the eye, like he was looking at something behind the Duke or inside his eyes but not the Duke himself. He also noticed that the boy was a bit tense and his body shaking slightly and his hands balled up into fists by his sides.

He nodded to let Guy know that the message was received so he could leave. Without saying anything else, the boy silently left the room just as he had silently slipped into the room, even though there was no need for him to do so.

Duke Fabre just shook his head at Guy's behavior Ever since Pere, a gardener they hired three and a half years ago, came and told them that Guy's parents died in the last war and asked them to also take him in as a servant in training, Guy became their youngest servant. The boy was always acting weird, though he could understand why he acted like this.

He would have to be only five years old when he lost his parents, combining with his fear for women – he had seen himself how the young servant would jump away and try to put as much distance as possible whenever he saw a girl closing in on him, and that's one of the only emotions he had ever seen the child displayed so far, which was a very sad thing – he would wager a guess that he might even be in the vicinity when his mother was killed.

Other than his fear in the opposite gender, there was also something in Guy that made him believe the child witnessed his parents' death, like how he tensed up and sometimes even started shaking – perhaps in fear – when he saw him. It was a well known fact that the Duke took part in the last war and was one of the leaders in the army and that only added to the fact that Guy was afraid of soldiers.

His wife and son didn't have much luck approaching the scared child either, though when it's about them, Guy was anything but scared. He knew how Guy always ignored Susanne and Luke, but would still carry out any order he was given by either of them. He understood that to Guy, Luke was someone with something that he could never had and hated him for it, same for Susanne who showered her son with love.

He wondered what the Cecil family was like, they must be a model family where Guy was doted on by his own parents for him to become this broken after losing them, not that a normal child wouldn't be broken when their parents were taken away from them. He could only hope that Guy's time here would help him overcome his grief.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Again, thanks for the review! Yes, you will get to see the original Ion later. After all, this story is mostly centred on the Daath crew. I'm glad to know that you guys also like the Peony-Dist interaction, though I think it will be a long time till they will see each other again. The part about Peony and the Score, I haven't really given it much thought until I read the manga about Peony and Nephry. They have got to hate the Score after it separated them.

One of the things I'm not going to change about Dist is his 'hatred' or 'rivalry' towards Jade. And Jade would be something like 'if he (Dist) wasn't doing anything stupid like going against the law, then he was none of my business'. I don't think I would be able to write from Jade's perspective... too difficult for me... at least not now...

There is something I want to clarify that I don't think I have made clear in the fic. What Dist knew and what Cantabile knew about the Score were different. Kratos only told Dist until the part where Malkuth would be destroyed and Evenos hadn't told much about the Score to Cantabile except telling her that he wanted to overthrow the Score so there won't be another tragedy like Hod. Neither knew anything about Yulia City... yet.

I actually think that the part about Dist making a really _really _slow progress of Fomicry make more sense. If you remember, Malkuth already had the means to make replica and programmed them to be perfect soldiers _before _Jade banned Fomicry. So it doesn't really make sense that Luke acted like a baby when he 'returned home' after the kidnapping, they could just pretend that it's a normal amnesia, there is no need to go that far... at least that's what I think. Though Van may think that it's easier to manipulate someone from their 'baby stage'.

I know Peony had more than 4 rappigs in the game, but this is 13 years before the game so I say he only got 4 right now. And we have the first appearance of Guy, though he's a bit messed up here. By the way, I have been reading the first part of the TOA game script and there was really a servant named Ramdas serving under Duke Fabre.

I don't think I have given Cantabile an age, she was 14 in the first part of this chapter and 16 by the end of this chapter, the same age as Van, and Guy was 10 (turning 11 later that year) when he made his appearance in the last part. I know it isn't important, I just like to keep track of how old everyone is... yeah I know, it's a weird habit... but I want to make sure I don't make people doing something too amazing at a too young age. Though I think I already did the impossible... Luke was only 4 (turning 5 in a few months) when the kidnap (Ch.4-6) happened... but it you think of Kakashi being a chunin at 6 in the Naruto world... and I am sure if the one being kidnapped was a 4 year old Jade, the kidnapper would be dead before they could even blink...

Until next time then~

_Uploaded on 31 October 2012. Edited on 9 May 2013._


	20. A Dangerous Proposal

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking; __**Character remembering a passage they read in the past**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 19: A Dangerous Proposal**

Birds perching on various tree branches were chirping happily under the bright afternoon sun. The sky was crystal clear without even a hint of cloud. It was a perfect day for children to play outdoor, but to a certain red haired child playing was the last thing on his mind. The future king of Kimlasca, Luke fon Fabre, was swinging his wooden sword around in the garden of the Fabre manor.

It was only five hours since he once again dismissed another teacher from teaching him how to use a sword to fight. It sounded weird for someone who just told the other party to get out of the mansion and stop teaching him the act of sword play to be practicing with a sword so soon, but it was becoming a routine that whenever this happened, Luke would perform some basic exercises that included swinging a wooden sword around.

He remembered clearly as if it was yesterday that Kratos told him there was no point in him teaching Luke past the most basic stuff as the mercenary stated clearly that he was only teaching him temporarily. He told him that every sword masters had their own style and would be teaching different stances to their students and it wouldn't do any good if Luke were to learn too much from him. That's why he always reverted back to the basics that Kratos taught him in the limited time they had together whenever he 'fired' someone.

He understood that he was basically wasting the past one year and nine months training under different people. He also knew how frustrated his father was towards his tendency to just ditch whoever he invited over to teach him. But he just couldn't find the right one. It wasn't because he thought them weak that he dismissed them. He understood that every sword style had their own pros and cons and whether they turn out to be strong or weak solely depended on the one wielding the sword.

He remembered the question Kratos asked him before he agreed to train him and remembered how glad and proud he was when he saw Kratos' look of approval after he told him his answer. That look of approval was similar to the look on his father whenevet he did something that seriously impressed him. While his mother was very kind and loving, his father was a very strict person that _never_ praised him through words. It was a rare occasion that Luke saw that look on his father and he treasured such moments very much. He didn't think another man, albeit a stranger, would have the same effect on him but somehow his instinct screamed to him that the auburn haired mercenary was just as strict as, if not more than, his father and he unconsciously craved approval from the man just as he craved approval from his father.

He knew it wasn't in his place to question his teacher, but he just couldn't help but want to try that little trick – if you could really call it a trick – Kratos had had on him. Since Kratos' exact words were 'why do you want to get stronger', he needed to change the wordings and so he would ask 'why do you want to teach me'. Kratos might not have been trying to trick him with that question, but it _was _a trick question for Luke to ask that of his master. After all, his father was the one sending invitations to ask them to teach him, so he usually asked that question after he had been training that person for at least five weeks to let the two first familiarized with each other.

The other reason that this was a trick question was that there wasn't any specific answer that Luke wanted to hear. In fact, he was only curious as to what the answer would be the first few times he asked that question. However, after being replied with something like 'it was an honor to be able to teach the son of the duke', he decided to make it a secret ultimate test for him to decide whether he was to accept that person as his master or not.

Although he had heard many different answers since then and not all were flatteries, or maybe some were actually sincere, he just wasn't able to find an answer to his liking so far. Though to be fair, he didn't know what he wanted to hear himself, so he guessed he would just have to remain patient and wait till he found the right one.

"Young Master. His Grace requests your presence in the drawing room." The maid standing near the edge of the garden called out.

Luke lowered his wooden sword and nodded towards the maid. "I will be there in a moment."

The maid bowed then left the garden.

Before the maid even left his line of sight, Luke had already put away the wooden sword he used for self-training and started towards the washroom so he could present himself in a better image towards whoever came to meet him.

He knew there was a guest in the drawing room, his father would never summon him to the drawing room for a simple father to son chat. He would have to make himself presentable to whoever it was with his father in the drawing room right now. He would never let others, especially an outsider, saw him when he wasn't at his best, no, that would be against what his father taught him: never show any weakness towards the others.

After he made sure his appearance was very much presentable, he made his way to the drawing room.

"Luke, come here." His father said the moment he entered the room.

The first thing he saw when he entered the room was Guy glaring at the back of the person that was sitting next to his father. It wasn't really surprising that the young servant was glaring at anyone, seeing as how he was always glaring at him and his mother, what was surprising was that he wasn't glaring at him even after his father announced his presence.

He then noticed that Guy wasn't really glaring at the back of the newcomer, he was just simply staring at him without any emotion whatsoever – it wasn't as if he liked displaying emotions anyway – he would have missed the difference if it weren't for Guy always glaring at him and the hard-to-notice slight widening of Guy's eyes.

Luke took his eyes off the four-year-older-than-him blond servant and started walking over to the table, thinking he would just solve this mystery later if he had the time. The newcomer stood and turned to look at him and he took note of this newcomer. Light brown hair tied into a ponytail with spiky ends, blue eyes and tanned skin. There was something similar about this person, but he couldn't place this stranger's face.

Duke Fabre motioned the man before him when he stopped several steps before him. "This is Locrian Major Van Grants from the Order of Lorelei."

Then he motioned Luke. "My son, Luke fon Fabre."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Luke." Van said with a slight bow.

"The pleasure's all mine." Luke replied with a nod of his own.

"Major Grants has offered to teach you swordsmanship."

Luke stopped studying the man trying to remember where he met him before and tore his gaze from Van to look questionably at his father. He knew his father was always finding a suitable sword master for him so he could learn how to wield a sword ever since the kidnapping. But the last one just left _hours _ago and there was no way his father would have predicted he would fire the previous one today_._

However, the one who answered his unspoken question wasn't his father, but his would-be master. "As the Duke just said, I am the one that offered, not the other way round."

_Ah, that would explain it. _Luke thought and returned his gaze to Van. _But didn't father said that he is from the Order of Lorelei? I thought he would only consider those within Kimlasca._

"Why would a Major from the Order of Lorelei want to teach a Kimlascan aristocrat?"

"I have heard about your tendency to ditch anyone that was hired to teach you swordsmanship. Hence I decided to make a deal with the Duke, if you are satisfied with me and my methods, then the Duke would grant us control of one of the labs in Belkend."

"The labs in Belkend? I thought Kimlasca was already sharing the labs in Belkend with the Order of Lorelei, and who do you mean by us?" Luke asked, he was confused about the situation, but he didn't dare show it to the others and hid it by narrowing his eyes as he look at Van.

"Us, as in the Order of Lorelei, represented by Grand Maestro Mohs and me. Right now, all the Order of Lorelei and Kimlasca are doing are sharing the labs. Belkend is a city of Kimlasca and the authorities of Kimlasca have the ultimate say in what the lab should be used for. The King left the authority of the lab to your father, Duke Fabre, and that is the reason for me to be standing here right now."

He looked at his father for confirmation who just nodded, telling him all he wanted to know. The Order of Lorelei was the protector of the Score, it was a universal law for everyone to follow whatever the authority figures of the Order told them to do, not to mention someone as big as the Grand Maestro.

He didn't like it that the man was offering to teach him just because the Score said so, but it can't be helped. However, he liked how this Locrian Major had told him the reasons behind his offering, sans the unspoken real reason that everyone already knew once he heard that the man came from the Order of Lorelei. Most people would have thought Luke as still too young to hear something like power struggle – if you could call it that – between the Order of Lorelei and Kimlasca, but this person, Van Grants, had just done what Luke had always wanted the other people to do, to look at him as an equal.

He then looked back at Van. "You seem familiar, have we met before?"

"Yes, I have done some background check before coming and it seems we met briefly when I was chasing after some bandits that were running wild in the desert near Chesedonia during a mission from the Order."

"... you were the one that took out the last kidnapper!" Luke half exclaimed – he was taught not to raise his voice in whatever circumstances – and his eyes lit up as he remembered when and where exactly he had seen this man before.

Then Luke became alarmed again. "Is that the reason the Order of Lorelei sent you here for the deal?"

Van chuckled slightly at that. "No, Grand Maestro Mohs wasn't aware of our previous meeting when I volunteered for it."

"So that is your own reason for coming? Thinking I would readily accept you?" Luke asked as he narrowed his eyes towards Van, though he knew well enough he would need to have a really good reason if he were to refuse following what he supposed was written in the Score.

"If you are going to do just that, I would be disappointed and would walk out of this mansion myself and ask the Grand Maestro to send someone else. No, that isn't my reason, far from it."

"Then what is the real reason?" Luke demanded. Although he usually only asked this question after he was training under that person for at least five weeks, but this situation was different and he was going to make an exception for this.

"I just like a good challenge." Van then gazed at Luke sharply. "Do you like challenges?"

Luke smirked, satisfied with Van's answer and how he just threw back the question towards him. "Very well, you have gained a challenger, Master Van."

Duke Fabre had been quiet during the whole exchange, likely gauging how Van and Luke dealt with the situation. Luke saw out of the corner of his eyes his father's approval, not just at the Locrian Major, but also his son's handling of the situation.

* * *

_A Locrian Major, is that what he has been doing all these years? He even changed his name. _The blond haired servant boy thought. _What does he think he is doing here anyway? Offering to teach the son of tha- that man. And here- here I had been thinking that he's dead and grieving for his death._

While Duke Fabre, Van and Luke were happily chatting about plans from now on, the servant boy that had been standing near one of the pillars listening to the whole exchange couldn't bring himself to share their joy.

_What is the meaning of this? I swear I saw recognition in his eyes the moment he spotted me. If he recognized me, how could he still do that to me, that traitor! _Guy was silently fuming at Van, at Duke Fabre, at Luke, at the whole world that had forsaken the Gardios Family and the people on Hod.

It was nearly five years since that horrible night when Guy had to watch his own house burnt down and had to leave Hod on a boat. He also had to witness Hod, the beautiful island that was the birthplace of him and tens, maybe even hundreds, of thousands other families, invaded by the army of Kimlasca, and all he could do was faint from all the fright and pressure accumulated onto his five year old body.

He didn't understand what happened then, one moment he was playing happily with his sister and maids in one of the playing rooms in the Gardios mansion, then the next thing he knew he was being carried away by Pere, one of the remaining male servants that wasn't sent to the war due to their age, while screaming at the top of his lungs for his sister, his family and his friends as they were either burnt or killed in the invasion.

The next time he woke up, he thought, no, _hoped_, it was all just a nightmare, but no, he was still in the bloodstained outfit he so despised with an unconscious Pere pressing him to his chest with a death grip. The boat they were on before was gone, not even a trace of it left and they were on a beach.

Later when Pere, the only one he had left that connected him to his family, woke up he asked him what happened with a barely heard whisper, as if something would _break _if he rose his voice too much. Pere told him that they had escaped from Hod. To escape from one's homeland, it sounded so wrong to his ears, but he couldn't just make the wrong feeling go away, no matter how much he tried. Then a tsunami came from the direction of Hod on the afternoon of the third day of their drifting aimlessly in the sea. The only thing Pere could think of was shield his unconscious young master from the oncoming wave with his own body. And that was all he could remember.

They later heard that Hod was destroyed. He couldn't believe his ears when he heard that, a whole _island _was destroyed, _collapsed _into the sea just like that, along with all the people that were on the island, be it Kimlascan or Malkuthian, and caused the tsunami.

He was so confused about all this that it hurt, it hurt to just think of his family, of all the things he had lost and would be forever out of his grasp, and he was hurting so much inside that he forgot how to breathe, and if not for Pere, he would have died due to suffocation and became so broken that no one could make him find the will to stay alive.

He then learned that the one that led the army and the one that slew his family was none other than the husband of the sister of Kimlasca's King, Duke Fabre. At that moment, he found his will to live again, how ironic that the one who ignited the fire inside him so he could live on was the same man who took away all the things from him, and he swore he would find a way to make him pay.

Since that horrible night, the whole Gardios family was thought to be lost. He could have presented himself to Malkuth's Emperor and regained his nobility. But no, he wouldn't do that until he revenged his family, he didn't think his parents and sister would approve of him either.

He told Pere to help him with his fighting skills and found a way to help him revenge his family. So focused he was on his path of revenge that he never noticed the sad gaze Pere had on him when he had that twisted and dangerous glint on his eyes at Pere's mention of managing to find a way for the both of them to sneak into the Fabre mansion by becoming their servant, _outwardly_.

They had been serving under Duke Fabre for a long time now and no one was none the wiser to their ulterior motive. However, he wouldn't – couldn't – carry out his revenge yet, not when he was still too weak to take on Duke Fabre, and he would be damned if he asked Pere to do it for him. He had always been grieving for his family and friends and preferred it this way, he didn't want to form any bonds with the people here, this way he could stay focus on his goal: kill Duke Fabre with his own hands.

He had also been trying to master his poker face, Pere told him his poker face was okay, but his body language spoke otherwise. But that was fine, the others just thought that he was this weird due to his losing his parents at such a young age and being forced to live in a new environment. But today, his poker face was breaking ever so slightly at the sight before him. The sight of Vandesdelca Musto Fende, the same person he had always played with and looked up to, the one he would have called brother and be proud of it if not for all this nobility stuff, making a deal with his mortal enemy to teach his mortal enemy's son had surprised and disgusted him so much that he felt something inside him once again threatened to _break_.

He didn't understand and didn't want to think about it, he had always thought that Van was dead, died along with the people in Hod either during the invasion or collapse, but here he was, chatting with the Duke and his son as if they were _friends._

That was when he heard that the three people sitting in the center of the room concluding their discussion. He saw Van stood up and without being told, he went to the door, a step ahead of Van, and opened it for him. He saw Van glanced at him for the briefest moment and mouthed the word 'Pere', at least that's what he thought the word was, and exited the mansion.

He still didn't understand what was happening or why Van's doing this to him, but he noticed the warmth in Van's gaze, even though it's only for a split second. Then before Luke or Duke Fabre could say anything, he also exited the drawing room, though using a different door. It wasn't a suspicious motion from the young servant, the others were so used to Guy's coming and going without a word whenever he finished what he was tasked to do that even Luke and Duke Fabre didn't see the need to stop him from slipping out of the room.

"Young Master, I take it Van already left?" Pere only ever called him Guy when there weren't other people around, and it was a small comfort that Guy always sought. It was a sign telling him that although he couldn't reverse time, he still had someone on his side and that he wasn't alone.

"He left you a message." Guy said monotonously, something he never did when he talked to Pere, but right now he still didn't know what to make of the situation and just didn't know how he should voice his question.

Pere nodded and looked at Guy with a look that confused the seemingly emotionless boy. "Abandoned factory, ten thirty tonight."

Guy just nodded at his ex-servant and went on his way to finish his other tasks for the day without waiting for Pere to say anything else. He wasn't sure why, but he was looking forward to tonight's meeting with Van, even after what he did just now.

* * *

"Van did what!?" Cantabile exclaimed as she sat, more like jumped, up from her previous lying position on the grass.

"No, you don't have to answer that, I heard you the first time... I just need a moment to gather my thoughts..." Cantabile said, trying to gather her thoughts on Van teaching that Fabre kid.

"I thought he was going to make a replica out of him or something like that... but yeah, I guess the point is to gain trust so he could kidnap him later easily... " She muttered, still trying to process the piece of knowledge she just gained and trying to hide her bewilderment, but failing splendidly, at the same time.

Kratos watched silently as Cantabile continued her monologue. "Gosh! The kid is gonna be in a lot of pain when Van betrayed him."

"What did he do to gain the trust of Duke Fabre anyway?" Cantabile asked, finally looking up at Kratos.

"He used something Mohs said as an excuse."

"And Mohs just agreed to it?"

"Seems it works out for the Score, so Mohs is all for it."

"That Score maniac." Cantabile muttered under her breath.

"And we don't know if that's Van's intention."

Seeing Cantabile's questioning look, Kratos continued. "It was just an assumption that Van is going to replicate Luke, he might just want to take advantage of his status in both Daath and Kimlasca or manipulate Luke to do something different from the Score when the time comes."

Cantabile narrowed her eyes. "Then how do you explain the Fomicry experiment?"

"Dist told me it's for something else, or at least he hasn't heard anything about using it on Luke yet." Kratos shrugged.

"What is it about then?"

"He told me that the machines in Wyon Cavern are to be used for replication of inanimate object." Cantabile looked at Kratos with a look that told him she knew there was something Kratos wasn't telling her.

A little over an year ago, Van gained two new operation bases for his projects and most of the involved personnel were told to move all the instruments to either of those bases and continue their work there. The one Dist was told to work in and also the only one he knew about was the Wyon Cavern.

Actually, that wasn't the name of the cavern. There wasn't really a name for it and when Dist told Van to at least give a name to the place so they could easily refer to it without having to say something like 'the unnamed cavern south-west of Sheridan' or 'the cavern in south-western Radessia' all the time, Van just told Dist to name it. But really, he could have chosen a better name than 'Wyon Cavern', it's like shouting to the world that Saphir Wyon Neis was here. Sure, Dist was a genius when it came to things he had real interest in or given the correct motivation, but other than that he would suddenly become the dumbest person in the world, another thing about the scientist that Kratos found amazing.

When he told Dist about how stupid it was to name a cavern after his own name when he was still in hiding, the man first looked horrified at his own stupid idea then he told Kratos, nervously but also a bit arrogantly, that 'they will have to know where to look first and it isn't as if there's a name tag anywhere in the cavern'. Though Kratos could easily point out many flaws in that 'logic', he decided to just leave it at that.

Dist was also told by Van that he needed to make some changes to that Fomicry machine so it could replicate something that was very huge, like a mountain. None of them understood what this was about but the one thing they were sure was that the purpose of the Fomicry machine, at least the one in Wyon Cavern, wasn't to replicate human beings.

Then there's the second base, which they still didn't know the exact location of. What they did know, or what was made public anyway, was that it was a secret project approved by Mohs and only involved personnel, not even Evenos, knew.

"... then what about needing a replica to overturn the Score?" Cantabile asked after pondering and finally resigning to the fact that if Kratos didn't want others to know what really was on his mind, then no one would be able to know it.

Kratos shook his head at the question. "As I have said, it was just an assumption, what we know was that Van would be the one to start the plan."

It was true that all the things about needing Fomicry to replicate Luke was just an assumption and nothing else. The only reason they thought Van was going to use it on Luke was the existence of someone with the name the Remnant of the Sacred Flame in Yulia's last Score and that that name wasn't anywhere in the other Score when even Kratos was there, though the information wasn't always correct.

However, the probability of that fourth party being Luke's replica was still ninety five percent, if not higher. But he didn't want to let Cantabile know about that, she had enough to worry about as it was.

Cantabile sighed and looked sad. "Still, I feel bad for the kid, Lorelei knows what Van has in stall for him."

Kratos nodded solemnly, he himself was also dreading what would become of the kid he met before, especially when he took into account what was written in Yulia's last Score.

_It wasn't really what you would call a Score, considering how vague it is. _Kratos mused as he recited the last Score, more like the last prophecy, in his head.

_**The One Who Would Seize Glory shall bring to the world its greatest hope and despair. He who choose to lead shall have the power to contain and control. Greatest hope of the land and greatest despair of those who walk on it are but two faces of the same coin. The grand finale shall become a curtain painted by the very essence of life and covers the land. Decision to toss the coin upwards or throw it to the ground lies in the song.**_

_**The Light of the Sacred Flame shall follow and fall or thrive. Upon sweet nothings and kind words of the precious and treasured, he who choose to follow shall hold half of the cards. The gears of fate of the new and the old shall turn with his choice. The destiny called upon by him shall lead to the greatest fall or triumph.**_

_**The Remnant of the Sacred Flame shall rebel and be lost or found. Upon being wounded and healed by the loved and hated, he who choose to rebel shall hold the other half of the cards. His actions not restricted by the rule but the truth behind the mirror. The destiny called upon by him shall lead to the worst ending or the best beginning.**_

_**The Dawn of Strength shall decide and be the judge of all. He who shall decide shall not have his right bound. The word of fate barely touches him, to be or not to be falls in his own hands. A being above all, an old partner surrounded by life and death, a rock of creation and destruction. The final judgement shall reflect on the most cherished and least expected.**_

_It is as predicted, now that Van become his teacher, Luke would most likely follow him when he carries out his plan. I have no idea if it would be a good thing for him to fall or thrive yet, I could only hope it would be the latter. _They believed that Van would do something very damaging to the world, if the part about him bringing the world its greatest despair wasn't enough indication, and Kratos couldn't imagine that someone who sought strength to protect the others would willingly follow Van unless he was to go through some traumatic experience.

_Like the fallen hero Mithos._ Kratos thought with a heavy heart.

Kratos knew that Cantabile wasn't only sad because of Luke, but also Van. Even after so long of not talking to each other, to Cantabile, Van was still her friend, a friend she regretted not being able to save from the monster called hatred. And now that they had this plan to overthrow the Score going on, Cantabile could only resign to the fate that she couldn't do anything to help her friend.

In a way, Kratos himself think this 'prophecy' left by Yulia was just the same as the Score. It was because of these four little paragraphs that they decided to be the observers and just let Van take the lead. And it was because of this that they decided to just wait and see if Van was really going to make a replica out of Luke.

He hadn't told Dist about this Score nor about the need to replicate Luke but he knew of the very high risk involved when the replica data was extracted from the original. Dist had told him that the worst case scenario was for the original to just disappear – yes, disappear, not die – while the replica was created and sometimes even if the original didn't disappear, there was still a high chance of them dying within the next ten or so days.

But they were going to risk it, just because it was written in the Score that there was a person named the Remnant of the Sacred Flame. Apparently, from that last Score, Luke was going to survive the ordeal of being replicated, but Kratos still didn't like the fact that they had to let it occur.

_How ironic that we have to follow a Score, though a different one, to rid the world of the Score. _Kratos thought bitterly.

There were still many parts that they didn't understand, granted, some were easy to guess, like the part about the song. Kratos had a strong feeling that it was referring to the Grand Fonic Hymn that was sung by Yulia all those years ago when she formed a pact with Lorelei. The paragraphs about Luke and his supposed replica weren't hard to interpret either, but he would just have to wait and maybe gather more information before he could really understand what they were about exactly. Actually, the most puzzling and vague was the part about himself.

The first two sentences sounded like he had to decide whether he was to follow the Score or not, but that could also mean other things. Sure, he wanted to help this world and the people in it, but he was also afraid of making a wrong decision.

He had told Dist to decide for himself what he wanted to do for his life was his own, but to tell the truth, although he could easily say something like that to help others get over their own problems, he himself got issues with deciding things.

Sure, he was a great leader – or so the others told him – a very long time ago, but it was just too long, try several millennium, for him to remember what it was like. And just like how Dist told him he found it hard to decide for himself seeing as how he was always just following Jade's decision, Kratos himself also forgot how to really make the right decision for himself after following Mithos for such a long time.

Dist had told him of his own worry about making the wrong decision because of his past horrible decisions, but in reality he had only made two wrong decisions so far: to follow Jade willingly and blindly even when he knew in the back of his mind that Jade was doing something wrong and to come to Daath to work for Van so he could continue researching Fomicry.

However, in Kratos' case, it wasn't just one or two decisions that he made wrong in the past. The wrong decisions he had made in the span of his thousands-year-long-life were too many to count. Some of the worst decisions he made involved letting Mithos use him as Origin's seal, promising Mithos to help him revive Martel, following Mithos blindly believing that everything would turn out fine in the end, going back to Mithos after Anna died, not searching the area more thoroughly for his son and just wrote him off as dead, and, last but not least, leaving Aselia with Derris Kharlan after Mithos died.

There were just so many decisions Kratos regretted ever making that he was somehow scared of making the wrong decision again. Well, it was true he had made the correct decisions every now and then, but those instances were when his family was involved and he actually had someone to _rely _on, namely Anna, his wife, or Lloyd, his son.

Others might not know, but he agreed with Zelos when the red haired flamboyant Chosen said that he was a coward that was afraid to face his own mistakes. Zelos also said that he hated Kratos for dumping all the responsibilities to Lloyd. Kratos also hated himself for that, maybe even more than Zelos. It was like he only knew how to make the correct decision when given enough initiative and a push towards the right direction.

He knew he didn't really have the time to drown himself in self pity, especially when it was stated clearly that he was the one to decide and judge, though he didn't have an inkling to what it was that he had to decide and judge. He would just have to wait, something he was really good at, and see.

"By the way, isn't he a bit late today?" The anguish was gone from Cantabile as she looked around the forest curiously, as if expecting someone to suddenly pop out.

"He isn't coming today. Van summoned him a while ago." Kratos answered.

Cantabile raised an eyebrow at that. "And you only thought to tell me until I asked because..."

"Because the first thing you did when you arrived was rushing at me with your katana drawn shouting for a match, then you wanted to know why Van was in Baticul." Kratos deadpanned.

"Fine." Then she sighed dramatically. "So I don't have anyone to torture... it's gonna be sooooo boring today."

Kratos shook his head and sighed at Cantabile's antics.

It started a little over an year ago when Dist met Cantabile. Though in Kratos' opinion, the meeting went better than he first expected – he had thought for sure that something red, namely blood, would be involved when he introduced someone who was always carrying a 'thou are below me' attitude to someone who was competitive and hated to be looked down.

Cantabile once crept up on Dist during one of their extremely short training session and hit him in the head with the wooden sheath of her katana, and that started a very heated verbal argument. Kratos only vaguely remembered Dist yelling something like "insolent child, didn't you see I'm in the middle of something important!?" and Cantabile refuting with something like "if it was that important, you should have noticed me, isn't that what you are _supposed _to do? _Genius?_" followed by lots and lots of yelling and insults exchanging.

Kratos wasn't sure how it happened, just that the end result was Dist becoming a quivering mess crouching on the ground with Cantabile towering over him with a smug look. The next time he and Dist met, Cantabile just popped up out of nowhere and told Kratos she would handle the day's training – to Dist's horror – claiming that she wanted to apply for a teaching position to train new recruits in the future and could use some practice, and that she hadn't seen any action lately.

Before Kratos could protest – he was seriously worried for Dist's well being – Cantabile told him "don't worry, I won't kill him" and strolled over to a stunned Dist. He later consulted Evenos on the matter and the Fon Master confirmed that Cantabile _really_ wanted to apply for a teaching position, but the thing was she _sucked_ in teaching. So the next time Cantabile joined them he told, more like forced, Cantabile to just _watch_. And that was the routine of the past year: Cantabile crashing into them whenever she was in Daath and free, watching and sometimes joining their training.

Though sometimes it would become something like Cantabile demanding a spar with Kratos while Dist rested, then once Cantabile lost Dist would say something rude to the girl resulting in said girl dragging a certain someone into the field to spar with her and started beating the hell out of him, then Kratos would have to forcefully drag Cantabile away and heal Dist.

A little while ago Dist had arrived at their usual meeting place sitting on a _flying _chair. He knew beforehand that Dist was working on a chair and after his experience with his scythe, he wasn't that surprised. On the other hand, he knew Cantabile was very surprised – they haven't really talked with each other when they were in Daath, what with Dist working for Van and Cantabile and Van weren't on the best of terms, together with the fact that Dist never told Cantabile about his scythe, well, he tried - it would be amazing if Dist actually _didn't _try to tell Cantabile that and thus show off - he was just brushed off by Cantabile whenever he started talking about his achievements.

Cantabile hid her surprise at the flying chair and Dist's ability to control it using his mind by making some snide remarks about Dist's sense of taste when she noticed the appearance of the chair. Kratos noticed Dist's weird sense of taste a long time ago but he just chose to ignore it. Sure, his fashion sense might be a bit weird in some places, but Kratos thought he did a good job for his room. Though if someone asked Kratos, a room was just a place for rest and he didn't see the need to decorate it so well. Well, there was also the problem of him being a narcissist, but at least he wasn't wearing pink, like a certain flamboyant narcissist he met some years ago before he left with Derris Kharlan... yet...

Another round of bickering followed after and Kratos just leaned against a nearby tree and waited for them to finish or to bodily drag Cantabile away, like he did every other time. However, the end result this time was Dist smiling smugly as he sat on his flying chair hovering high above the ground while Cantabile tried to reach him to no avail.

Ever since then, whenever Cantabile tried to hit Dist he would take refuge by rushing over to his chair – he brought it every time they met – and had it floating mid-air. It was a good thing that Dist was faster than Cantabile, otherwise Cantabile would have destroyed the chair whenever they started to argue.

It was strange for Dist to be more agile than Cantabile – not that Dist wasn't already quite fast, he did outrun the Necromancer in the woods near Keterburg before, he just didn't have the stamina to run too far. Kratos wondered if Dist also did something to his shoes. He wouldn't put it past the mechanics to put a sylph glyph on his shoes to make him run faster just so he could skip the 'manual labor', as Dist put it, for normal people to increase their agility.

After all, he did it once with his scythe, what's to stop him from doing it on his other equipment? It wasn't illegal anyway, just a bit unfair to honest workers. Anyhow, it still took skills to be able to control a sudden boost in speed and Kratos would give him credit for being able to do it. And to tell the truth, artificial boosters were just one form of weapons, and who's to say Kratos wasn't cheating like Dist when he himself had something like the Cruxis Crystal?

"Is it really fine for Dist to just go whenever Van summoned him? Wouldn't he, like, get into trouble for always ditching his duties in the Oracles?" Cantabile asked.

"They are working in the same division and Van is directly above him. To others, Dist is just doing the task his superior told him to do." Kratos explained.

"Van sure likes abusing his power."

Kratos looked at the girl with a look that said 'and you don't'.

"Hey! I will have you know I never did anything like that!" Cantabile replied, offended at the hidden meaning behind the mercenary's look.

"If you say so." Kratos said in a nonchalant tone, clearly not believing the girl, especially when she always dumped her paperwork to her subordinates claiming she was needed for some secret missions assigned to her by the Fon Master. The secret mission part was true, but it wasn't like it took up so much time that she couldn't do the paperwork herself.

A few months ago, Cantabile was promoted to the position of the Special Operations Commandant, the head of the Special Operations Unit that was directly under the Fon Master. It was uncommon for a division of the Oracles, except Fon Master Guardian, to not be under the Grand Maestro, but the Special Operations Unit was Evenos' idea, or the Score's idea, ten years ago during one of the wars between Kimlasca and Malkuth.

It was created with the sole purpose of doing things that not even the Grand Maestro could know about. However, the current Grand Maestro, Mohs, was always arguing how the Fon Master should share everything with and not withheld any information from him, though funnily enough Mohs himself had many secrets. There were also rumours flying around about Mohs finding a way to have the Special Operations Unit work for him instead of the Fon Master through bribing.

Cantabile confirmed the rumors by telling Evenos and Kratos how funny the look on Mohs was when she laughed in his face and outright refused his offer for more power over the Oracles. She also made sure that none of the soldiers in her unit would ever listen to Mohs' babble. Cantabile and Mohs became hostile to each other ever since.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for the reviews again!

Nope - I also realise that Kratos didn't really have many appearances in this fic and am going to do something to remedy it (it was planned that he would have more roles in this fic later, so don't worry). And yes, Luke was kidnapped when he was 10, so that didn't occur in this fic yet, the kidnap I was referring to in the previous chapter was the one mentioned in ch.4-6. A comment about Jade's action last chapter: from my understanding, he was confused (but didn't understand what he was feeling or just denying it and not showing it) about what he should do if he were to see Dist now, so the remedy was for him not to see Dist at all. And I was just pointing out the fact that the replica didn't have the ability to function as a normal child when he was 'born', though I see what you are getting at, the ability of functioning as a normal child towards the inborn ability to use hyperresonance. By the way, I also think Dist himself didn't know about Luke and Asch being perfect isofons until he analyzed Luke in Choral Castle. If he did know how to make perfect isofons, then there won't be Sync or Florian.

splitheart1120 - I have already planned for the part where Kratos was going to reveal his secret, but that's a secret (wink) and I am not telling yet, you will just have to wait and see.

Last chapter Guy made an appearance, and in this chapter we see how messed up he really was in his mind. And before you ask, I am not going to write the meeting between Van and Guy. Maybe I will write that in a later chapter, but who knows.

The only reason that Yulia's final Score was mentioned here and not in earlier chapters was that I was lazy to create a Score from scratch and didn't think I really have to write it until I was writing the part about Kratos wondering about Luke's future now that he was learning under Van. Well, I know the 'Score' sounds lame, but what do you expect? I am 'Lazy to Write' after all.

The part about Kratos' reflection on his life... sure, I like Kratos, and I like to portray him as someone who's very strong, but I think his mind was also very messed up. In a way, I think he was actually one of the 'weakest' Tales characters in terms of mental stability. After all, who would willingly submit to Mithos' tyrant if not in love with him like Ponyma, had their own agendas like Rodyle or was power hungry like Ramiel? Even Yuan got fed up and created the Renegade to oppose Mithos.

That's about all I wanna ramble in this little corner for this chapter. Oh yeah, I recently put up another oneshot prequel to this fic, check it out if you have the time. Until next time~

_Uploaded on 10 November 2012. Edited on 10 May 2013._


	21. A Training Trip

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

- Loreleiday is equivalent to Saturday

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 20: A Training Trip**

"Double Gale Fang!" He shouted and slashed down diagonally from the upper right before turning a full circle and slashed upward diagonally from the lower right. An X-shaped wind projectile was formed and hurled towards the already weakened monsters. He dropped down to the ground panting the moment the last mushroom-shaped monster died.

"Not bad." The man who was watching the scene several meters behind commented and walked towards the exhausted man.

"No... wait... I need... need rest... ju- just... five minutes..." The man sitting on the ground rasped out in between heavy breaths.

The other man sighed as he looked at his exhausted company. "Fine, but only one minute."

"I swear... you are a... devil incarnate!" The man sitting on the ground said and he fell back to rest.

"What happened to not wanting to lie on the ground and getting all dirty?" The man asked, amused at the 'devil incarnate' comment.

The man lying on the ground glared at his companion with all the hate he could muster, which wasn't much, considering he was already thoroughly exhausted and the other man wasn't likely to be affected by any glare he directed at him.

The man walked towards the cluster of fallen monsters. He knelt down before one of the corpses and started to inspect the wounds. "The cut is deeper than before." He commented.

Although he couldn't see, he knew he was boosting his companion's ego and decided to add more to the comment. "But it was an overkill."

As he expected, his companion immediately sat up, obviously annoyed. "I was just trying to improve that arte!"

Not at all fazed at the other man's outburst, he straightened himself before turning to look at the other man. "You could just use Gale Fang for it, this way you can still improve your wind based arte without exhausting yourself as much. Though seeing that you're up already, I see you weren't that tired and we can continue."

"Wha- Kratos yo- you are-"

"A Devil incarnate?" Kratos suggested 'helpfully'.

"Fine!" The man half-shouted – Kratos told him not to raise his voice too much if he didn't want to attract monsters – before grabbing the scythe he discarded carelessly next to him just now and using it to help him stand up.

It was a little over three years since Dist began training with Kratos, but this was only the third time he faced non-human opponents. Kratos knew it was a really slow progress, but it can't be helped, what with Dist always wanting to do anything other than training even when he was supposed to be training.

At first he had thought the addition of Cantabile was going to do more harm than good, but he should have realized early on that what Dist needed was motivation through rivalry. Sure, Dist already got his never ending hatred towards Jade – though Kratos didn't really understand how it became something like that, and he didn't think hatred was really the right word for it, but he couldn't really find any other suitable description for it – but still there's a limit to what an imaginary opponent could do.

Though Cantabile didn't thought of Dist as rival or anything close to that, it was precisely since Cantabile didn't thought of Dist as that that had the man all worked up. He knew the scientist liked to be in the spotlight but Cantabile never put up to his annoying trait. Well, to be fair, Kratos also didn't willingly put up with it, but he was patient and he didn't think Dist was _that _annoying, in fact, he had met many people worse than him.

Another thing that was different in the way Kratos and Cantabile treated Dist was that Kratos was willing to listen to his babble when he talked about technologies, machines and theories he came up with, sometimes even joining the discussion – after living for so long, Kratos had learned to gather information of all aspects to make his own life easier, not to mention he himself was also interested in this sort of things – but Cantabile just brushed him off whenever their conversation drifted towards anything that she deemed 'none of her business'.

Still, even with the involvement of Cantabile, Kratos wouldn't say Dist was doing a great job, as he still whined every ten minutes or so, which actually was an improvement... he was whining every five minutes in the beginning. But at least there was some progress, albeit how small that was.

If he were to set a scale, he would say the current Dist was a little better than Lloyd's level when he rescued him from the Renegade Base in Triet. Which means Dist was near the bottom of the scale, considering the Lloyd he was talking about was the one that hadn't gone through any real training and all his fighting skills were self taught. However, to tell the truth, Kratos didn't really mind the snail-crawling progress of Dist, he had all the time in the world to train him – or at least until he finished his self appointed mission in this planet – and he perfectly understood that he was training someone who _hated _physical exercise.

Well, yes, he would be very proud and happy if his newest student were to, say, become anywhere near Lloyd's level when they parted – a wishful thinking that Kratos had told himself time and again that wasn't going to happen in at least another few decades, by which he didn't think the man would still have the strength to even swing the custom made scythe around – but if Dist were to become that good in such a little time then he was going to be very bored.

He was patient enough to train and slowly build up Dist's strength and skill, but if Dist were to become so good that he didn't need Kratos to help him anymore, than it would be boring as Kratos had no intention to take another student – though he think Cantabile was also indirectly one of his students – during his stay on Auldrant.

It wasn't like he was purposefully slowing down Dist's progress – Kratos think he would have a heart attack if that were to happen, seeing as Dist was the _one _slowing down the progress – but Kratos liked the challenge of training a scrawny scientist.

"So what's the name of the mushroom we are after?" Dist asked after he recovered some of his strength while walking as slow as he could without having Kratos asking him to pick up his pace and using his weapon like a walking stick.

"Rugnican Death Cap." Kratos replied.

"I don't understand, why would someone hire a mercenary just to find a poison mushroom? If they want someone dead, why don't they just use the money to hire an assassin to do the job." Dist rolled his eyes at the stupidity of Kratos' client.

Yes, they were doing mercenary job, or, they were doing Kratos'job. After all, Kratos was the only mercenary here. However, since it was Loreleiday and Dist didn't have anything to do today, apart from his own research projects, Kratos decided to drag Dist along as another training session. But this time it won't be just thirty or so minutes before they stopped and Kratos had forbidden Dist from bringing any of his over-sized gadgets, namely the flying chair, along.

"On the contrary, Rugnican Death Cap is anything but poisonous. In fact, it is used to brew medicine that promotes overall mental and physical health." Kratos explained while keeping an eye for monsters and any mushrooms that fit the description of their target.

"What a lame name, they should have named it better. That name sounds very poisonous to me." Dist commented absentmindedly.

"I agree, to think the most healthy and most poisonous mushroom that could be found here have such similar names." Kratos mused as he recalled the name of the most poisonous mushroom in Mushroom Road.

Hearing Kratos' comment, Dist raised an eyebrow and looked at Kratos with a look that looked like something in between 'what was the stupid name of the poisonous mushroom?' and 'do I want to know at all?'

"You don't want to know." Kratos replied the mechanics' unasked question and Dist decided to just leave it.

There was a storm in St. Binah recently, destroying the farms that were one of the only two places on Auldrant that grew Rugnican Death Cap. As a result, the remaining Rugnican Death Cap that were in the medical centers in St. Binah suddenly became very expensive. Granted, the demand of Rugnican Death Cap wasn't really high even before the storm hit and so the raised price hadn't caused much problems. But there were still people who needed it and couldn't afford the high price, that's why he was hired to gather the required mushrooms for them.

The client was a doctor of one of the local clinics in Chesedonia, apparently the doctor was one of the kindhearted doctors that liked to give more than take. She had been giving free treatment to a few patients that could only barely support their own daily necessities and one such patient was in need of the Rugnican Death Cap which even the doctor herself had problem sparing enough money to purchase, especially when she was already using her own savings to help some of the poorer patients.

Although Kratos was a mercenary, he hadn't actively sought after much mercenary jobs recently. He didn't need the money, at least not yet, and most mercenary jobs he could find wouldn't help him in getting to know more about this world, it didn't matter he was already here for more than a year, there's only so much one could learn about a whole planet in three years.

He had been wandering in the bars of Chesedonia, a city he always frequented, when he picked up laughter of men as they read a paper attached to the notice board, the board where mercenaries looked for jobs. He heard the men joking about the high demand and low pay of the job and how no sane man would do this job. That was when his interest was piqued and decided to take a look at the job himself. He understood immediately why no sane man would do this job. The reward of this job was much less than the current price of Rugnican Death Cap that one could buy from the medical centers, not to mention Mushroom Road was a place that was untamed wilderness and it was rumored that most who dared venture the forest never came back.

But oh well, Kratos wasn't really a 'sane' man in the sense that he didn't need money and wasn't the least bit afraid of the monsters dwelling here. He had been here for three years already, or to be precise, three years and two months since he had this new found ability to use the Seventh Fonon, and had already gotten used to using the Fonons instead of mana to fight.

He wasn't trying to be arrogant, but after he had found a way to break the Fon Slot Seal himself – Dist said he should be able to do it himself about two and a half years ago claiming that the Seal was only supposed to seal the Fon Slots on his body that was leaking unwanted Fonons, something that shouldn't happen if Kratos found a way to control them – he found out how much power he had exactly, which was a lot, and thus didn't think normal monsters would be able to kill him.

But Dist was another question entirely, unlike Kratos, he was very much inexperienced and very much in danger of losing his life by journeying in Mushroom Road. Kratos wasn't trying to unnecessarily putting him in danger, but he needed real life demonstration if he were to help Dist further his training, and what better than to bring him to a dangerous ground where his life was at risk almost every moment?

He needed to do something to have Dist's ego taken down a peg or two so he could understand how helpless he was even if he had all those gadgets – a message Kratos thought he succeeded in conveying even before they started their training sessions but no, Dist just seemed to forget all about it and just continued relying on that flying chair or the battling robot he caught wind of Dist planning to make. He wouldn't go so far as to forbid him from building whatever machines he wanted to, just not relyingon them too much.

Kratos stopped suddenly when he heard movements of monster. Of course Dist didn't notice it seeing as he didn't have any advanced hearing but he also stopped once he noticed Kratos stopped and immediately knew something was coming.

"Where?" Dist asked with a lowered voice.

"About ten meters to our left." Was the only information Kratos gave him.

Looking to the forest on their left, Dist had this strange glint to his eyes that told Kratos he was calculating, probably the distance and time before the monsters appeared before them. He then looked at Kratos with a questioning look which Kratos replied with a nod.

Dist then positioned himself as if he was going to throw a boomerang and waited. "Reaper's Havoc!" He threw the scythe and let it soar through the air. Just then a bear-like monster and a wolf-like monster jumped out from behind the trees into the direct path of the soaring scythe. The attack wasn't so strong that it could take the high level monsters down with just one strike, but Dist had the advantage of surprise and that attack managed to knock the monsters down.

Kratos rushed to the place where the monster was knocked down and unsheathed his sword. "Fierce Demon Fang!" He slammed his sword to the ground, resulted in a huge shockwave that damaged and made the monster float momentarily.

"Demon Spear!" He followed his attack by slashing his sword upward and a blue projectile was created and hit the monsters to keep them from falling back to the ground. As soon as the blue wave hit the monsters, Kratos spiraled into the air while being surrounded by a trail of light. The monsters were caught in the spiral and rose up into the air. He finished his attack with a powerful horizontal slash while airborne blasting away the monsters.

"Icicle!" Two ice pillars enveloped the monsters the moment they fell onto the ground. Dist ran towards one of the ice encased monsters, the one that looked like a bear, as he changed his grip on the scythe expertly so that the handle was in the front instead of the blade. "Sonic Impact!" He thrust the handle of the scythe forward as if thrusting a sword – an attack that was the result of imitating Kratos' Sonic Thrust – and shattered the ice.

The beast fell down after the ice was broken. Dist looked at the monster before turning away to finish off the other monster which was still frozen. What he didn't expect was that the beast wasn't dead yet and it rose up from the ground and slashed at Dist the moment he turned away.

However, before the claw of the monster connected with Dist's back, Kratos was already there blocking the attack with his shield and had pushed Dist out of harm's way. Dist dropped bottom first onto the ground as he didn't expect the sudden push. He looked up from the ground and realized his stupid mistake of just assuming the monster was dead. Kratos pushed the monster away with his shield and performed his own version of Sonic Thrust, effectively killing the monster.

Kratos then turned to look at the dumbfounded Dist that was still sitting on the ground. "Kratos, I-"

"Don't you still have something to take care of?" Kratos asked as he jerked his head towards the other still frozen monster and Dist saw that the ice was starting to melt.

"Right." Dist stood up and stretched his arms outward before him while holding the scythe vertically, the tip of the handle touching the ground, and started to concentrate. A Fonic Circle appeared underneath his feet and Fonons could be seen rising up from the luminous glyph of the Third Fonon.

"Turbulence!" A surge of wind blew up from the ground the monster was standing on blasting it slightly into the air. The frozen monster dropped down to the ground and the ice was broken upon contact with the ground.

The monster got up on his feet after a while and started rushing towards Dist and Kratos. Dist sighed as he watched the weakened monster closing the distance between them.

He began tiredly. "Do I really have to-"

"I don't think there's time for you to whine." Kratos cut him off and stepped a few steps backward.

"Fine." Dist huffed and got into his battle stance, one that Kratos used nearly half an year just to make Dist get it right.

Dist waited till the monster came within his attack range and started to swing the scythe around. "Dying Moon!" He spun around twice vertically with the blade of his weapon pointing outwards, heavily damaging the monster. The monster dropped to the ground after the attack was finished.

"Is- is it dead?" Dist asked tiredly.

"Yes." Kratos stepped forward and took note of the monster's state.

Normally considering Dist's current attack level, no matter what he did he would never be able to deal any critical damage to the monsters here. However, Dist had the power of mind, something that many inexperienced warriors and sometimes even some of the experienced warriors lacked.

It was an established fact that Dist can be very smart when he decided that something was worth his time and Kratos had been spending the last three years drilling into the always complaining mechanics' mind that yes, learning self defense was something extremely important, especially when the man was spending his life in hiding.

In the first attack Reaper's Havoc, Dist had calculated and waited for the exact time when the monsters' going to jump out so that he could deal the heaviest damage he could with that attack. The reason Dist first decided to self teach himself this attack was that the only motions required in this attack were throwing the scythe and catching it when it returned.

The only comment Kratos had when Dist first told him the reason for this attack was that Dist was too lazy when it came to physical exercise. But Kratos couldn't argue with the fact that the other did a fine job devising a way to use his mind to control the weapon when it was soaring through the battlefield like a controlled boomerang. Though right now he could only control it for only three seconds, Kratos knew this attack would become very helpful in the future if he continued practicing it and extended the time limit in which he could control the projectile of the scythe.

Then there's the spell Icicle – a spell Dist liked very much, saying how Jade never bothered to learn the lowest level Fonic Arte and Icicle was a combination of Wind Slash and Aqua Burst, the lowest level Wind and Water Fonic Artes, and required precise control to perform. The only reason Kratos could think of for Dist to be able to create two ice pillars that hit the monsters directly and had them frozen at the same time was that he had started casting the spell even before Kratos hit the monsters and had been charging it and estimating the positions the two monsters were going to land at.

After that there's Sonic Impact, one of the basic attacks Kratos taught him a long time ago, but since Dist didn't have any muscle in his arms, the amount of force he could put into the thrust was limited even if he used both of his hands. The only solution the two of them could think of, except the most obvious solution of doing physical exercise for Dist to put on some muscle, was for him to perform the attack as he was rushing towards the enemy. This way he could add more force to the attack by using momentum.

Obviously although it was powerful enough to shatter the ice, it wasn't enough to deal any major damage, and here Kratos meant it had even less effect on the monsters than his other attacks. He wondered if Dist was ever going to master that attack and if it was a mistake for him to teach the other man that.

Though Dist finished the other monster with the technique Dying Moon – another attack Kratos taught him, which had a basic idea as Presea's Dual Punishment – and the attack itself was executed after Dist calculated the exact moment and position that could deal the heaviest damage, the real reason Dist could finish off the second monster was because of Turbulence, the only mid level Fonic Arte Dist knew.

Due to Dist's natural affinity to wind – especially when one considered the fact that Sylph Glyph was Dist's most frequently used Fonic Glyph even when it came to his experiments and the easiest for him to tune his own Fonon frequency to – his wind based attack usually had more power than his other attacks, not to mention he had been charging the spell and waiting till the moment when the ice was going to melt before releasing the attack, effectively dealing another critical damage.

Dist's affinity to wind was the reason Kratos decided to teach him Gale Fang, an attack he saw one of his acquaintances, who also had a natural affinity to wind, from a few centuries ago used. Kratos himself didn't learn this attack but that didn't mean he didn't know how to teach others how to use it. Though he guessed it wasn't as good without a demonstration seeing as Dist's version of Gale Fang was very different and much weaker than the one Kratos remembered his acquaintance performed.

However, Kratos was very surprised when Dist self taught himself Double Gale Fang. It wasn't that Double Gale Fang was much stronger than Gale Fang, but the fact that Dist actively devised a technique for himself, with the exception of Reaper's Havoc, surprised him. The fact that the basic idea of Double Gale Fang and Gale Fang were different was also a surprise.

Gale Fang was an attack that produced a Wind Slash as the weapon slashed across the air, but Double Gale Fang was an attack that created an X-shaped wind projectile with two slashes and hurled it towards the enemy. That attack required precise control of the wind element – Dist had to control the wind that was produced from the first slash to make it stay until after he finished the second slash so that he could combine the wind produced by the two slashes and hurl it forward – and Kratos had to give Dist credit for having such precise control.

Dist had said he wasn't much when it came to Fonic Artes and Kratos agreed with that statement to a certain degree, seeing that he only knew three low level Fonic Artes: Wind Slash, Aqua Burst and Icicle, and one mid level Fonic Arte: Turbulence. However, he was very good at manipulating and combining the Fonons required for the two low level spells to cast Icicle.

Kratos had heard at least twice from Dist already that since it was the only spell that him alone, and not Jade, coul perform, he had spent a lot of time in his childhood and adolescence to practice and master it. Well, though the both of them perfectly understood that it wasn't that Jade, a prodigy in Fonic Arte, didn't know how to cast it, but that he just didn't bother to learn it considering how it was supposed to be one of the low level spells, but if Dist wasn't talking about it then Kratos didn't see the need to point it out.

"Hey Kratos, is this the one we are looking for?" Dist asked as he held up a mushroom that looked very much like Rugnican Death Cap with hope in his eyes, hope that they could finish this training trip so he could find a bed and just collapse on it and never getting up again... well, not really _never, _but at least not for a few hours...

But his hope of finally able to rest was crushed moments later. "No, that was the Great Rugnican Death Cap." Kratos said after he examined the mushroom.

"Wha- what's the difference? I bet this Great Rugnican Death Cap is better than Rugnican Death Cap anyway." Dist argued, refusing to just have his hope of finally being able to rest crushed like that. And the argument actually made sense, except for the fact that...

"This is the most poisonous mushroom you could find in this forest." Kratos explained as if it was the most natural thing in this world.

"Bu- but the only difference in their names is the word 'great'!" Dist exclaimed.

Kratos raised an eyebrow and looked at Dist with a look that said 'I told you so.'

Remembering another conversation not long ago, Dist understood what it was about. "You are right, I don't want to know about it."

* * *

It had taken them another two hours and several more battles against the monsters dwelling in the forest before finally reaching the part of the forest where Rugnican Death Cap grew. Overall Kratos would say that this training trip was a success without either of them sustaining any major injuries, in the very least nothing a powered up Healing Stream couldn't handle. Though now came the hard part.

"Do we really have to walk all the way back?" Dist whined as he sat against a tree resting.

"If you still have the energy to whine, then yes, we are walking back." Kratos replied without looking at Dist and continued to pick up the mushrooms from the ground. He had to make sure they have gathered enough to last till the next harvest season of the newly planted Rugnican Death Cap in St. Binah.

"At least let me get some rest first." Dist could imagine what Kratos' answer would be, but he could still hope.

"Fine, you can rest until I have gathered enough mushrooms."

"That's good enou..." Dist trailed off without finishing his sentence.

Kratos turned around to see that Dist had fallen asleep while leaning against the tree.

_It's good he gets some sleep now, I knew he didn't sleep again last night. _Kratos thought as he recalled the exhausted look and the black circle surrounding Dist's eyes when they met this morning.

After five minutes, Kratos had finished gathering enough mushrooms and looked up at the sky to take note of the time. It's only a little after noon and the sun was still high in the sky. Kratos decided he could let the tired scientist rest for an hour more.

Today's excursion was a surprise to Dist as Kratos also only just picked up the job the day before yesterday. He had sent a message to let Dist know to meet him somewhere near the Cheagle Woods this morning and as punctual as Dist was – well, at least he was punctual when he wasn't working on his experiments – he arrived early this morning and only then did Kratos tell Dist the reason of meeting in Malkuth territory.

Kratos always sent messages to let Dist know where to meet him if Kratos wasn't in Daath. Though Dist himself wasn't always in Daath, he always had the time to check in Daath to see where he was going to meet Kratos next. It wasn't hard for him to travel here and there anyway, not with that convenient chair of his. It had become a normal thing for Kratos to sometimes set the meeting place to be somewhere other than Daath, but mostly they just met in Chesedonia or somewhere near Sheridan or Belkend, and never in Malkuth territory.

_Maybe that's one of the reasons he wasn't able to sleep last night and was all twitchy this morning. _Kratos remembered how irritated, much more than usual anyway, Dist was this morning before they stepped into Mushroom Road. _Or maybe it's just because I confiscated his only means of transportation the moment he arrived._

He had told Dist to leave his chair in a cave that Kratos found in the Cheagle Woods some time ago. Of course the man protested greatly towards that with the main argument 'what if something happened to it when we aren't looking?'. After nearly ten minutes of whining, from Dist, and glaring,from Kratos, but he swore that death glaring the other into submission wasn't his original intention, Dist finally gave in and the two of them started their training trip in Mushroom Road.

An hour passed with Kratos staying guard and occasionally killing monsters that approached. He decided it was time to wake Dist up so they could make their way back and Dist could go back to Daath before the day was out.

Although Dist was reluctant to wake up, he knew Kratos had let him sleep for more than they original planned, if the nearby monster corpses were any indication. After another five minutes, Dist and Kratos were seen making their way back to the entrance of Mushroom Road when Kratos thought of something he had been meaning to ask the scientist.

"What did you do to your shoes?"

"My shoes? What of them?" Dist blinked at Kratos' out-of-the-blue question.

"You are always outrunning Cantabile and..." Kratos trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence as he knew how sensitive Dist was and the slightest wrong sentence, especially one that include the name Cantabile, would make him throw another fit.

"Oh, I see, you are talking about my occasional boost in speed."

"So it's true you did something to your shoes to increase agility."

"Well, I did have some additional help to make myself faster, but it wasn't the shoes." Dist stopped walking and was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, a gesture Kratos noticed Dist was always doing whenever he was nervous.

"Where did you put the glyph then?" Kratos asked, he also stopped and turned to look at Dist. The only reason he could think of for Dist getting this nervous from such a simple question was that he put the Glyph in a very embarrassed place, but Kratos didn't think putting the glyph in any such places could boost one's agility.

"Umm... well... it wasn't a glyph... it was something like the Fonic Sight..." Dist slowly drawled out.

"Fonic Sight?" Now that was a term Kratos hadn't heard of.

"The Fonic Sight is a result of people infusing a special Fonic Arte to their eyes. " Dist explained.

"Why would they do that? Wouldn't it damage their eyesight?"

"No... at least not if you applied it correctly and expertly. Since the eyes are the greatest Fon Slot in the human body, this would result in the person having the ability to gather Fonons at three times the normal rate. I- I only know theoretically what would happen if one were to fail to correctly implement the Fonic Arte." Dist's tone was still a bit unsure, as if he was struggling with himself whether to further elaborate on the matter or just stop there.

"What would happen?" Kratos knew he could just drop it and do some research on his own about the Fonic Sight if Dist didn't really want to talk about it. But it wasn't everyday that the Fontech maniac appeared uncomfortable and reluctant to talk about anything associated with Fonic Arte or Fontech and Kratos wanted to see how far he could push Dist into talking about this. Although it's been three years, Kratos understood that Dist still had many inner demons and he promised Dist he was going to help.

"It depends on the person, but the most common ones are Fonon separation, explosions, neural contamination, Fonon mutation... you know, the thing I told you that might have happened to you..." Dist trailed off, he was still fidgeting with the hem of his shirt and looking at everywhere but Kratos.

Kratos narrowed his eyes at Dist. "You mean you applied the Fonic Sight when you perfectly understand the risk? I would have thought something like that would be forbidden."

"Wait! No! I didn't apply the Fonic Sight! It was Jade that applied the Fonic Sight! Not me!" Dist waved his hands in front of him animatedly and shaking his head vigorously while explaining he wasn't the one that did wrong like a child caught by his angry mother, or father in this case, as he sneaked a cookie from the cookie jar just before dinner.

"And nothing happened to him?" Kratos asked after Dist calmed down.

"Except that his eyes lost its pigment and became red. And that he had to wear some custom made Fontech glasses to eliminate any chances of the Fonic Arte going out of control and consuming him."

"Then what about you?"

"Huh? What about me?" Dist blinked at Kratos question, trying to act as if they weren't talking about him at all.

"You said you had something like the Fonic Sight, what is it?"

"Ummm... well... that's... I mean..." Dist resumed fidgeting before he paused and suddenly deflated. "Fine, I think it's better I let you know about it." He said finally. "You remember when I told you that Jade sometimes used me as a guinea pig for his experiments when we were young?"

"You mean he performed the Fonic Sight on you. Didn't he know the danger of it?" Although Kratos had gathered from what Dist said here and there that Jade wasn't treating him correctly and had been using him for experiments when he couldn't find any other test subjects, he never really thought Jade would use him for such inhumane and dangerous experiments.

"No! I mean- he didn't do that to me! Well, not the whole forbidden Fonic Arte and not on my eyes anyway. Jade knew what would happen if something went wrong and he knew my body wouldn't be able to handle the whole thing. But since it was forbidden and he couldn't let others know about it I am the only person he could ask. He made sure to do a thorough research on it and tone down the spell to something he was sure I could handle before applying it to me." Dist hurriedly explained.

That was one of the things Kratos was still unsure as to how to help Dist get over. At one time Dist would be shouting bloody murder and blaming everything on Jade every chance he could find, but then at another time if someone badmouthed Jade Dist would jump to his defense so fast that Kratos was sure any person other than himself would think that Jade was a saint and the person badmouthing Jade was the devil incarnate.

_Well, he did call me the devil incarnate just now. _

"And since I am not really a Fonic Arte person he applied it to my feet, the part of the human body that had the least number of Fon Slots." Dist continued explaining without his previous nervousness.

_At least this way I got him talking and stopping the fidgety state he was in just now. _Kratos wasn't trying to badmouth Jade or anything like that. He didn't need to do that, even with Dist's explanation, it didn't justify Jade using Dist for something so dangerous and it was clear as day that the one at fault here was Jade.

"Jade just wanted to see first hand what the effect of that Fonic Arte was and whether it was worth him risking applying in to his eyes." Dist said, concluding his defense for Jade.

Kratos frowned at Dist's words. "And it was alright for him to risk your life." He said with what the others would call a disapproving tone.

"Wha- No! I told you he understood clearly what he was doing and he made sure no harm would befall me!" Dist nearly shouted his last sentence, desperately wanting Kratos to understand that Jade didn't do anything wrong there.

Kratos closed his eyes and exhaled the breath he didn't realize he was holding. He knew it would be a waste of time arguing with Dist when he was like that. Every time when they had similar arguments like that Kratos knew that no matter what he said Dist would never be able to see past the twisted truth that he himself established to defend Jade.

However, that still didn't mean Kratos didn't think what Jade did was wrong. In fact, Kratos was seriously thinking every similar arguments he had with Dist about Jade was like a worried father arguing with his delusional daugh_ – cough – _son about the evil-doings of his boyf _– cough –_ friend and just why he should sever his tie with said friend.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kratos decided he would just do something about it at a later time and continued their previous conversation. "So you also had the ability to gather Fonons at a much faster rate?"

"Yes, but it was something I am still practicing In fact, I could only do it occasionally, like once or twice a year, and only for something like a sudden speed boost for a small amount of time since my body couldn't handle the strain and I could only gather the Third Fonon, or that's what Jade told me. He told me it's also for my safety, seeing as I lack physical strength and he won't always be there to fight off whatever trouble I get myself into." Dist concluded his sentence with a smile, glad that he just found another statement to defend Jade.

"Though it's been a long time since I last thought about it." He had his hand rubbing his chin and was looking towards the ground in a way that Kratos swore he could literally hear the gears working in his brain again.

"The last time I actively used it was when I was escaping from Jade three years ago." The sentence was followed by a string of curse, telling Kratos that Dist once again reacquired his 'hatred' towards Jade.

"And it only lasted three seconds before I had to stop using it or else something permanently damaging would have happened to me... but yeah... now that you mention it, I have been easily outrunning Cantabile lately... seems I have been unconsciously using it..." Dist muttered as he thought of a possible explanation for this.

"And it was a bad thing?"

"... not really... unless something irreversible already happened to me... but I would be able to feel the extra strain the moment I overused it... and it already exceeded the limit of twice a year... and I wasn't feeling anything wrong..." Dist continued muttering as he remained in his 'thinking pose'.

"Is the strain you talking about physical or mental?"

"Both." Dist answered as he stopped his train of thoughts.

He looked at Kratos and blinked at Kratos' hidden meaning. "You think I have been getting physically and mentally stronger?"

"If you are talking about how you are now living out your own life and almost single-handedly got rid of most of the monsters on our way here, then yes, you have gotten stronger in both sense." Kratos shrugged as he stated the obvious to the wide eyed scientist standing before him.

To be fair, Kratos did help him out by weakening all of the monsters so Dist could deal the final blow, but the point was that Dist was mostly the one that dealt the final blow, not Kratos.

"Oh... umm... thanks..." Was the only reply Dist could think of as he resumed that 'nervous pose' of his.

* * *

**~ Omake: The Most (Not) Important Part of an Arte ~**

"So what's the attack you have been thinking about?" Kratos asked, already thinking how he would have to also learn this attack so he could help Dist eliminate whatever useless movement he had included when he self taught this attack.

"Ha! I will show you what my brilliant mind has come up!" Dist exclaimed with a smug look that if Cantabile was present, Dist would become yet another quivering mess on the ground in the next minute.

But Kratos wasn't Cantabile and he was used to people giving him smug looks whenever they came up with something 'brilliant'. In fact, Kratos was nearly immune to looks like that especially when one considered the fact that he had been spending the last four millennium with one Yuan Ka-Fai and one Mithos Yggdrasil, among other various people like Pronyma, Rodyle and Zelos.

So the only 'reply' Kratos had for Dist's self exclamation was a raised eyebrow which Dist knew to translate as 'then get on with it'. Dist deflated momentarily before once again acting as if nothing happened and positioned himself like he was going to throw the scythe away. Seeing this, Kratos had an idea what this attack was going to be and was adding to his mental checklist about the things he needed to correct as he took in the poor throwing stance the man was currently in.

"Super Ultra Gorgeou-"

"Stop. What are you doing?" Kratos suddenly had a feeling that something horrible was going to happen if he didn't stop Dist from finishing what he was going to do.

"Huh? What?" Dist straightened himself and looked at Kratos with a curious look. "I thought it was tradition to said the name of the technique before performing it?"

This time, Kratos didn't bother to hide it and just face-palmed. He then turned away while trying very hard to calm himself down.

"What is the problem?" Dist asked annoyingly.

After a while, when Kratos made sure he had quelled the urge to laugh? Get angry? Be irritated? he turned back to Dist and realized to his horror Dist really had _no idea _what the problem was.

There were many things Kratos wanted to tell Dist at that moment, like how it wasn't actually tradition to said the name of the technique before performing it, but then he would have to go on another long explanation which he was sure would just result in another argument.

Therefore...

"Change the name."

… was the only thing Kratos decided to say in the end.

"What?" Dist blinked.

"I said change it." Kratos repeated seriously, or as serious as he could get in this situation.

"What? But the name's cool! And you haven't even heard the full name!" Dist blinked again and exclaimed.

"No, the name can't be more than three words."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"What?" Dist blinked again at the very un-Kratos like reply.

"Just. Change. It." Kratos said with the most serious tone and expression he could muster in this situation.

"O- okay, if you insist." Dist finally said, normally he would have argued longer before giving in, but this time he was stunned at the very un-Kratos like behavior that he couldn't think of any witty comeback.

"Or better yet, we name it together." Kratos added after a moment of silence, another scene where Dist giving all his techniques long and horrible names was already forming in his mind.

"Huh? Okay, but why?" Still not yet recovered from the previous bewilderment, all Dist could do was agree to whatever the mercenary said.

"Because you don't have the experience of naming artes, so let us do it together until you could come up with a name I approve of." Kratos decided that this was the best explanation he could come up with without Dist throwing another fit if he were to answer with something like 'your naming sense sucks, that's why'.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I haven't thought of the omake till the very last minute. You see, I have already thought of a bunch of techniques for Dist (but most of his other technique won't come up till after the pre-game chapters ended, and some even beyond that... it can't be helped that Dist was such a lazy ass when it came to training) and also some new techniques for Kratos (well, he did get a new power boost, so it's only natural that he acquired some new skills, though they also won't come up till after much later). However, I realised that Dist would never be able to come up with any normal, much less cool, names, and so I decided to write this little omake to explain the seemingly normal names of Dist's technique.

Yeah, we all know how Dist had this 'brilliant' naming sense... luckily Kratos was there when he named his first technique so Kratos could help him give _much_ better names to all his techniques. Here's a list of the techniques, sans the Fonic Artes, that Dist used in this chapter:

**Reaper's**** Havoc **死襲顎 _Shishuugaku_ – Long ranged attack. The scythe is thrown like a boomerang, hitting enemies as it soars through the battlefield before returning to the character. In Dist's case, he was doing some mind control on the scythe like how he controlled the chair and how Anise controlled Tokunaga.

**Sonic Impact **瞬迅擊 _Shuujingeki_ – Short ranged attack. The end of the handle of the scythe is thrust towards the enemy as if thrusting a sword and the enemy is pushed backwards. Alteration of Kratos' Sonic Thrust/瞬迅剣.

**Gale Fang** 風牙 _Fuuga_ - Wind elemental attack. Mid ranged attack. A normal horizontal/diagonal slash that results in wind slashing a distance from the tip of the blade. Similar to Alexei's Fuuga/風牙, but much weaker and the wind slash wasn't as huge.

**Dying Moon **亡月輪 _Bougetsurin_ – Short ranged attack. The character spins around in two full circles with the scythe outstretched, damaging surrounding enemies. Same as Presea's Dual Punishment/双旋牙.

**Double Gale Fang **双風牙_Soufuuga_ - Wind Elemental Attack. Evolved form of Gale Fang. Long ranged attack. First a downward diagonal slash, then the character turns a full circle followed by an upward diagonal slash, an X-shaped wind projectile is resulted and hurled forward. Similar to Yuri's Final Gale/絶風刃, again, much weaker and the wind projectile couldn't travel very far before it dissipates.

I thought of the English name before the Japanese name, so there really wasn't any reason for me to come up with the Japanese names... but I really think the Japanese names are much cooler and I just had to think of some suitable Japanese names for each of the artes. Then there's also the fact that I only came up with better English names once I thought of the Japanese names... like how Gale Slash became Gale Fang after I remembered Alexei having a similar technique and Crimson Circle became Dying Moon after I thought of the Japanese name and realised I shouldn't be using the word Crimson at all for its Japanese translation (紅蓮) indicates it as a fire type attack and how similar it was to Kratos' Hell Pyre (紅蓮剣).

The other Artes used by Kratos in this chapter:

**Fierce Demon Fang** 剛・魔神剣 _Gou Majinken_

**Demon Spear** 魔神閃空破 _Majin Senkuuha_

I have been thinking about Loni and Malik's ridiculous long name for their last Mystic Arte as I think about what Dist would name his technique if he was given free range to do so... the arte that bears the longest name in the whole Tales series: Tremorous Celestial Sundering Shredding Light of Cyclonic Butchery 震天裂空斬光旋風滅砕神罰割殺撃 Shinten Rekkuu Zankou Senpuu Messai Shinbatsu Kassatsugeki. But to tell the truth, I think the names Dist could ever come up with are far worse than this name...

And before any of you asked, there is actually a skit in the game about the ridiculous naming of the Rugnican Death Cap and the Great Rugnican Death Cap.

Also, the reference about Kratos being Dist's father and such... if Lloyd is here he will be the same age as Dist. Remember that this fic started four years after Kratos left Aselia, when Lloyd was seventeen. It wasn't my original intention to refer to Dist as a girl and Jade his boyfriend... but it was just too fun, and even Peony had made a similar comment in the game TOF2.

Well then, that's all my babble this chapter. Until next time~

_Uploaded on 21 November 2012. Edited on 17 May 2013._


	22. True Meaning of a Predetermined Life

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking; **Character remembering a passage they read in the past**_

* * *

**Chapter 21: True Meaning of a Predetermined Life**

The trip back to the entrance of Mushroom Road was a bit easier than the trip in, Kratos thought that's because Dist had had some rest and so wasn't asking for rest after every single battle. Though they still took rest every now and then, they managed to make the trip back in only two hours.

After they left Mushroom Road, they headed back to the Cheagle Woods so Dist could grab his chair, go back to Daath, finally call it a day and drop dead on his bed. However, it seemed fate, or the Score, had something else planned for them. They were near the Cheagle Woods when Kratos heard it.

"Young Master, please reconsider. There is no need to expose yourself to dangers." A male voice said.

"No, I will go with you, otherwise there is no point in it." A very familiar voice said.

Some other people, who Kratos guessed to be servants, started pleading their young master to stay in the Cheagle Woods while they went to Mushroom Road as Kratos and Dist got closer to the commotion. They were so close that even Dist heard the conversations now. Dist went rigid when he noticed someone else in the forest and was afraid of being recognized by some powerful Malkuthian, if the term 'young master' wasn't enough indication, and got arrested. Though as soon as he saw Kratos didn't bother hiding and just continued walking towards the group of people he knew Kratos knew who exactly those people were and that there's no need for him to hide.

"Who's there?" A guard – at least Kratos thought he was a guard, seeing as none of the people in this group wore uniform – cried out once he heard them approaching and immediately all the people in the group turned to face them with weapons raised. Kratos noticed approvingly that some of the people formed a semi-circle before their young master to protect him. The semi-circle formed by the guards wasn't enough to obscure the sight of the protected boy and the boy stared at them as soon as he noticed the intruders.

"Kratos!" The boy called out.

Someone in the group started murmuring something that sounded like 'that Kratos?' before the boy gave out orders to them. "Relax everyone, they aren't anyone suspicious."

The guards straightened themselves as the boy walked forward to greet them. "So it is true when my father told me you are working in Malkuth."

"The Duke tried to find me?" Kratos asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hearing Kratos' reply, Dist became less confused, at least with what the boy said and Kratos' reply he gathered that this group was from Kimlasca, and he thought that maybe one of the mercenary jobs Kratos did acquainted him with some Kimlascan Duke.

"Yes, father told me that he was trying to hire you to train me even though I told him about how you refused to spend too long at one place."

"You find someone to train you yet?" Kratos asked. Although he knew the answer already, Luke didn't know he knew.

"Yes, someone from the Order of Lorelei."

"Oh, you are Luke, the one Van is training." Dist said as he finally linked the dots together.

"Who are you?" Luke asked as he looked at Dist.

Kratos answered for him. "This is Dist from the Oracles."

"So you are a colleague of Master Van?"

"You can say that." Dist said nonchalantly as he shrugged. Luke looked confused at Dist's answer but decided not to ask.

"What are you doing here?" Kratos asked.

"You know about the storm in St. Binah and the destruction of the farm that grows the mushroom called Rugnican Death Cap?" Luke paused and upon seeing Kratos' nod, continued his explanation. "Normally although the tension between Kimlasca and Malkuth are high, they still provide us with medical ingredients, though at a much higher price than it is normally."

Dist looked like he wanted to say something but Kratos gave him a look that Dist knew to translate to 'shut up'.

"However, even Malkuth are suffering from the lack of the medical ingredient and decided to just stop their trade with Kimlasca, at least until the harvest season of the next batch of Rugnican Death Cap."

"What about Chesedonia and Daath, they still had their supply. Why don't you just buy it from the merchant or medical centers there? I don't see any reason why a Duke won't have enough money to do so." Dist commented.

"Yes, we have the money, but we can't. The amount Malkuth is willing to sell to Chesedonia is very limited and Astor has to control the flow of Rugnican Death Cap so that his people don't have to suffer from the lack of it. And Daath... the people there won't bulge unless it's something the Score tells them to do." Luke said bitterly as he get to the part about Daath.

Dist was surprised at Luke's apparent distaste of the Score and that the people in Daath would go so far as to withhold medical ingredients just because the Score said so. Well, he sort of understood where this came from, seeing as he had been working in the Oracles the last three years, but not even the lives of people matter? That's harsh... though Dist realized he shouldn't be this surprised as Kratos already told him about the destruction of Malkuth and they had already established the fact that the people in the Order of Lorelei were _willing _to do something to make it happen if it didn't happen naturally.

"You couldn't buy any at all? Though I had to agree with Astor's concern for his people, he should know better than to do something like that and leave a bad name to Kimlasca." Kratos had encountered Astor during some of his jobs when he was in Chesedonia and he knew from their encounters that Astor was a very smart merchant and wouldn't do something this stupid to jeopardize Chesedonia's standing with Kimlasca. He decided to drop the part about Daath and the Score, there's no point going there anyway as it was a never-ending argument.

"We could buy some, but not enough for the whole Kimlasca. Thus the King sent us to gather the medical ingredients." The man who had been staying on guard and would likely strike out if Kratos and Dist tried anything suspicious, walked to stand in front of Kratos and said.

"And you are?" Kratos asked the man.

"Colonel Goldberg, commander of the First Division, Kimlasca-Lanvaldear Royal Forces. A pleasure to meet you." Goldberg said and nodded at Kratos.

"Kratos Aurion, travelling mercenary." Kratos said and nodded back.

The same exchange happened between Goldberg and Dist before he continued, "I heard about what happened before, please accept my thanks for rescuing Luke." He then performed a formal bow. Now Dist was confused, he knew he missed a large chunk of the story and decided to ask Kratos about it later.

"You were saying the King sent the child of some Duke to such dangerous mission?" Luke looked annoyed at Dist's 'child' comment.

"It was supposed to be a secret mission where only the elites are sent as we have to venture into Mushroom Road and avoid being noticed by Malkuth for trespassing their territory." Goldberg said.

"So the child was one of the elites?" Dist asked genuinely, he honestly didn't think a six or seven year old couldn't be a elite, for all he knew, Jade could easily defeat a dozen monsters even when he was only five.

At hearing Dist's word and tone, Luke didn't know whether he should be angry that the man called him a child again or glad he thought that even a 'child' like him could be an elite. In the end, he decided to just ignore him. "I decided to come along myself."

"So you mean you sneaked into the group and they didn't even notice there was an additional child? I got to admit you have got some skills there kid." Dist commented and earned multiple glares from almost everyone present.

Kratos, one of the only ones who didn't glare at Dist, just very annoyed at his ability to rile up others without really trying, decided to stop him from talking by placing a firm grip on Dist's shoulder to let him know he needed to shut up.

"Luke, you father is going to think you are kidnapped again." Kratos said.

"I left a note, so it's fine." Luke said.

Kratos narrowed his eyes. "You still shouldn't do that. You do know you are causing unnecessary worry to your parents and trouble for the others here, don't you?"

Goldberg looked like he wanted to say something but held his tongue as Luke started. "Yes, I know about that... but I want to help my mother..." Luke whispered and lowered his head.

"Although Duchess Fabre was one of the people that could get their own supplies of Rugnican Death Cap from Chesedonia, Her Grace insisted that her illness wasn't as serious and we should spare the limited ingredients for the patients who are in life-threatening condition in the hospitals."

"So what? You are willing to endanger yourself and the others just for that?"

_I knew I wouldn't be able to stop Dist from talking, but I thought I could at least make him stay silent for longer. _Kratos thought as he resisted the urge to sign or face-palm.

"What do you mean just that! I see, so you are one of the ones that would just leave your mother to die if the Score says so. And who said I am going to be a burden!" Luke snapped his head towards Dist and glared fiercely at him. Normally Luke wouldn't lose his temper, he was taught better than that, but not many people could stand Dist. After a while, Dist broke the staring contest and went to snatch the sack of mushroom they gathered just now from Kratos. Kratos was surprised at the sudden motion and was curious as to what Dist was going to do with it and so just let him take it. Dist then threw the sack to the ground before Luke.

"What's the meaning of this?" Luke asked angrily as he noticed the content of the sack.

"What? Are you blind? These are the mushrooms you are looking for." Dist replied irritatingly.

"I don't need your pity!" Luke said between gritted teeth.

"Pity? Ha! Didn't you just say I follow the Score word to word? Why do you think someone from Daath would come all the way here to gather Rugnican Death Cap when they have their own supply if not for the Score anyway?"

Kratos inwardly sighed at Dist's words once he realized what this is about. The fact that Dist willingly do anything for someone he just met made him a bit glad. He knew how Dist was a loner in the Oracles due to his being a social inept among other things, but he never knew Dist had a weak point when it came to children. Maybe it's wasn't because Luke was a child, but that he was willing to risk his life for his mother. He knew Dist would also do the same thing if he were in Luke's position. After all, Dist was the one that spent nearly ten years finding a way to revive Nebilim, someone he looked up to as his own mother.

"What? But that's..." Luke trailed off as he looked at Kratos.

Kratos just shrugged. "I was just hired to get them, I wasn't told who they go to." It wasn't a lie, he really didn't know which patients the doctor were going to treat with the mushroom brewed medicine.

"And why do you think we came to Cheagle Woods when we could just take a ship from Grand Chokmah to Daath?" Dist said as if stating the most obvious thing in the world. It was true that the fastest route to get to Daath from Mushroom Road would be by sea from Grand Chokmah. However, it would be the last thing for Dist to go to Grand Chokmah, at least not for another nine years, but for all Luke was concerned, Dist was just a random person from the Order and could freely walk into, even welcomed in, Grand Chokmah.

Luke was still suspicious but he couldn't find any flaw in Oracle Knight's explanation, though it still sounded very wrong in his head. However, before he could ponder things further, Goldberg noticed Kratos glancing at him and decided to interrupt.

"So that's what it was about when the scorer said not to worry and that the Score has other plans when they refused to sell us the mushrooms." Goldberg said as he made a signal for one of the people that had been silent during the whole exchange to come up and grab the sack on the ground.

"Glad to see someone has brain, unlike a certain someone." Give it to Dist to think of so many insulting words for someone he just met less than fifteen minutes ago, and the son of the Duke no less.

"Kratos, we have finished our business here. Let's go, I can't stand to stay in this forest any longer." Dist said and turned to walk away before Luke could make another comeback or to dwell further on what just happened.

Kratos gave a final nod to Luke and Goldberg before walking away after Dist, leaving a bewildered Luke and an amused Goldberg and their group behind.

"You do know that's all the Rugnican Death Cap we have, don't you?" Kratos asked once they reached the cave and were out of earshot of Luke's group.

"What do you think I am, stupid? Of course I know that." Dist said, still irritated at something Kratos wasn't aware of.

_I wonder what he is irritated at. _Judging from what transpired just now, Kratos knew Dist wasn't irritated at Luke and certainly not Goldberg. And Kratos would wager Dist wasn't irritated that they lost all the mushrooms after they spent nearly five hours in the monster filled forest, seeing as Dist was the one that freely gave them to Luke. He couldn't think of anything else and decided to ask Dist about it.

"It's the Score." Dist told Kratos, who didn't say anything and waited for the other man to elaborate.

"You told me before how they would do anything to let the war happen if it was written in the Score and I accepted that... but I guess I didn't really understand the true meaning behind that. I mean behind the war."

"Because you have never gone through war yourself." Kratos supplied as he starting to see what Dist was going on about.

"Yes... even when you told me about how Malkuth is going to fall with Peony's death I still can't comprehend it except for the part that Peony's going to die and Nephry is going to be sad if she is still alive by then and Jade..." Dist paused and shook his head to clear whatever thought he had about Jade before continuing his sentence. "Even now I still don't think I can comprehend that."

"That's understandable. Sometimes even people that have gone through war have difficulty to fully comprehend the meaning of it."

"... I guess that's it. But if I am to comment on that, I think I am one of those who can't comprehend it even if I am to actually go through one." Dist sighed.

"You mean how you always say the others' lives aren't your concern?" It sounded harsh, even to Kratos, but over the three years he knew how Dist could sometimes be this cold blooded person that as long as it didn't involve him, then others could die a painful death for all he's concerned.

"Well yeah... but that's what I... argh! I don't want to discuss my 'twisted' philosophy now!" Dist cried out frustratingly. Dist knew and accepted that it's twisted, at least after Kratos pointed it out to him. It was at times like this Kratos really wanted to know what Jade had been telling him. He had heard enough to know that Dist wasn't like this before and wondered what caused him to become like this in just ten years. Even Kratos only began to feel numb about others' life after nearly two hundred years.

"Anyway." Dist stressed the word to let Kratos know he's going to dismiss the topic about his philosophy, though Kratos had no intention of going there now. "About what Luke said, about the people in Daath withholding the medical ingredient just because the Score didn't say anything about giving it to them... well, when they first talked about it I still didn't understand what's there to fuss about... but..." Dist trailed off, pondering the words to use.

"You can sympathize with Luke wanting to help his mother." Kratos said, helping Dist to finish his sentence.

"... yes..."

Kratos noticed Dist still have that look of unease on him. "That's not all you have on mind."

Dist sighed. "I only said what I am doing is the Score's will on the spur of the moment, but what if that's true? What if it really is the Score's will, like what that Colonel said? I never really thought of what I have been doing is following the Score, but just now when Luke mentioned it... I don't know..." Dist said with a defeated look, his shoulder slumped.

"Remember when Colonel Goldberg thanked me for rescuing Luke?" Dist looked at Kratos with a questioning look, not understanding the sudden change of topic, but nodded nonetheless.

"Luke and Princess Natalia were kidnapped by a group of bandit and I saved the two of them under the Score's guidance. At that time, I was also frustrated that I was doing the Score's will, but that's also my own will."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The Score told me to rescue the children, but what if I decided to stay behind and not rescue them? The Score wouldn't be fulfilled if I did that, but at the same time I don't think it's the right thing to just abandon someone in need."

"So you mean we should follow the Score when it's about something that is good but not follow it when it's about something that is bad." Kratos resisted the urge to sigh at Dist's conclusion.

"What I am saying is that the Score is just one of the many possibilities of what is going to happen, whether to follow it or not is your own decision. There's no need to dwell on the fact that you are following the Score when you are doing something you think is... right..." Kratos trailed off, coming to a realization about one of the things that's been plaguing him.

"Kratos? Is something wrong?" Dist asked, it wasn't like Kratos to just trail off during one of his explanation.

Kratos just shook his head to let Dist know nothing's wrong. "What are you going to do about it?"

"The Score? I thought that's Van's job and we are just monitoring his plan to make sure nothing too bad happens?"

"No, I am talking about the Rugnican Death Cap."

"Oh that, I will just have to make another trip back there to get some more mushrooms while you wait for me here. It will be done in less than an hour with my chair." Dist replied in a tone as though Kratos was asking the stupidest question.

It's dangerous for Dist to go to Mushroom Road alone, but he had his chair with him this time. Kratos knew Dist could always somehow miraculously get out of any trouble as long as he had his gadgets with him and so agreed to wait for him here. After Dist left with the promise that he would be back soon with another sack of mushroom, Kratos sat on the ground leaning against the wall of the cave and started to wait.

_Am I really that stupid? _He asked himself as he thought of what he just told Dist and the sentence that popped up in his mind during the conversation.

_**The word of fate barely touches him, to be or not to be falls in his own hands. **_

* * *

**Remday, Shadow-Redecan 13, ND 2008**

A child with dark green hair and bright emerald eyes was playing happily with his father in his room. It was just over the weekend and he usually dreaded today for he knew he had to go to the nursery during weekdays. But that was not the case today, for some reason his parents told him he didn't have to go to the nursery since two weeks ago when he turned five. He was very happy when he heard that.

The previous two weeks were one of the best times he had ever had during his short life and he was happy he didn't have to leave his home today for that would be a kill joy. He had seen how happy the other children were when he went to the nursery, but he couldn't share their joy. Due to his weak body and his tendency to hide behind his mother or his teachers in the nursery, he was always bullied by some of the nasty kids there. He also remembered one of the kids calling him a 'mommy boy' and another 'book worm', seeing as he always loved to read the books in the nursery. However, that wasn't the only reason he didn't like the nursery, he wanted to be with his parents whenever possible.

His mother was always home playing with him and she would also make delicious food for him. His mother told him that his father had a job to do and so was always missing from home. As a result, he never get to spend much time with his father. However, his father was here playing with him and his mother since his birthday, and he only now realized how funny his father was. He didn't know nor did he care why his father was here today, but he loved spending time with him and his mother.

There was a knock on the door and the next moment his mother was standing at the doorway. He was still playing with his father and didn't realize the sad look on his mother. "Dear... th- they are here." His mother said, her voice trembling.

This got his attention and he turned to look at his mother with his huge eyes curiously. "I see... so it is time already..." His father said and picked him up. He loved it when his father held him in his arms and quickly settled into the most comfortable position he could get.

"Come, Ion, there are people who would like to meet you." His father said and started walking towards the door.

The child, Ion, looked up at his father with the same look he just gave his mother. "Who?"

His father didn't say anything, he just shook his head and smiled at him.

After they passed the doorway and started walking downstairs, he heard the door clicked close and later footsteps from behind and knew his mother was following them. His father released him and put him on the ground just before they reached the living room much to his displeasure. His father told him and his mother to wait and went into the living room to retrieve a huge backpack.

"Daddy, are we going out to play today?" Ion asked, a huge smile plastered on his face as soon as he saw the backpack.

He heard a weird noise from his mother after the words left his mouth and he looked towards her but found her looking away from him. "Mommy?"

"No, we aren't going to play today." The eldest male of the family said, a weird smile on his face.

"Oh... okay." Ion said slowly, not understanding what was happening. He was still too young to understand that the weird sound made by his mother was a sob and the weird smile on his father was a strained smile, a smile that never reached his sad eyes.

When they neared the doorway he saw two people, one of them a man wearing a ridiculous tall hat on his head, the other a lady wearing similar clothes but without the hat, standing before the closed door. Ion tilted his head to the side and blinked as he looked at the two strangers.

"He is the one?" The man, who looked to be older than his father, asked.

The man looked at Ion with a piercing gaze that made Ion flinch and he tightened his grip on his father's pants. He turned to study the second newcomer, a pretty lady with something strange covering her left eye. She seemed to be around the same age as his teacher in the nursery.

The lady smiled a beautiful smile and knelt down before Ion. "Nice to meet you, little Fon Master. How are you today?" The nice lady asked and Ion immediately decided he liked this lady.

"Fine!" Ion said proudly, remembering the correct response to the question his mother taught him a while ago.

Then he noticed something else. "What's a Fon Master?" He asked, not understanding what the words meant and why the lady called him that instead of his name.

The lady chuckled. "It's the person holding the highest position of the Order of Lorelei. You will understand when you learn more."

"Learn? I am going to learn more?" Ion was excited, he liked learning stuff, so he could show off to his parents how smart he was.

"Yes, little one, the guy here" she pointed at the older guy with her thumb, "and I are going to take you to a new place so you could learn many many things."

"Really? Even things dat Mommy and Daddy dun know?" The lady could literally see stars shining in the child's eyes.

"Yes, that's right. But to do that, you will have to say bye-bye to your Daddy and Mommy first."

"Mommy and Daddy can't come with me?" He asked, a bit sad that he had to leave his parents.

The lady closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but they can't come with you." She replied with a sad smile.

He nodded and turned around to find her parents chatting with the other guy in a hushed tone. They stopped chatting once they noticed Ion was staring at them. His father came over and knelt down before him.

"How's it? Do you want to go?" He asked.

"Yes! I am going to learn so man- much that you are going to be sup- surp- surprised!" Ion exclaimed, proud of himself for remembering the word. He heard that weird sound coming from his mother again. He looked up and saw the nice lady walking over to his mother. The lady hugged his mother and started whispering to her. Then his attention was snapped back as he felt his father put his large warm hand on his head and started ruffling it.

"That's my Ion. Remember to listen to the teachers of this new place you are going to and make us proud." His father said and Ion noticed his father's eyes being more shiny than usual.

Before he could even ponder whether he imagined it or not, his father stood up and turned away as his mother took the previous place of his father and knelt before him and enveloped him in a tight embrace.

"Mommy, you are hurting me."

"Sorry, Ion." His mother said and loosened her embrace, but she didn't let go.

"Mommy?" Ion asked after a while.

"Sorry, Ion. Mommy is just so glad that you are happy to go to this new place to learn new things." His mother whispered. "Listen dear, the place you are going to will take more than a day, so remember to eat your meals and brush your teeth before you go to sleep and after you wake up. Okay?"

"Kay." Ion replied, he didn't like the sound of it when his mother told him he would be gone for more than a day, but his father wanted him to learn more and his mother was glad he was willing to go, so he would tolerate it.

"Good." His mother said, finally releasing him from her embrace and looked at him in the eyes and gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen on his mother.

He noticed his mother's eyes were also shining, but they are even more shiny than his father and it looked like something was going to fall. Again, his mother stood up and turned to his father before he could ask anything. He felt a hand that was much smaller than his father on his head and turned around to see the pretty lady grinning toothily at him, in her other hand the backpack his father took from the living room.

"You ready to go?" She asked.

"Yes!" He saw out of the corner of his eye the other man opening the door.

"Let's go, we are going to be late." The man said as he hurried out into the busy streets of Chesedonia.

The lady muttered something under her breath that Ion didn't catch and reminded Ion to say a final goodbye to his parents.

"Bye-bye! Mommy, Daddy!" He turned back to his parents and waved enthusiastically at his parents.

"Goodbye, Ion, son, have a save journey!" His father called back.

"Goodbye, Ion, darling, remember to do what I told you and be a good boy!" His mother called back.

He smiled one final time at his parents and started walking away from his home, a home he still didn't know he would never be able to step into again.

**** Five Days Ago ****

Evenos was sitting behind his desk in his office, in front of him stood Cantabile, the girl he took in all those years ago and had been treating as if she was his daughter. Although Evenos was the leader of the Order of Lorelei and Cantabile was one of his direct subordinates, they only put up formalities when a third party was present. He always loved these kind of father and daughter interaction with the girl. He was the Fon Master and he had to follow the Score, that's why he could never have any son or daughter of his own, as the Score didn't name a wife for him.

The part about him finding Cantabile was also written in the Score, but the Score never said anything about him adopting her as his child. It wasn't as if he officially adopted Cantabile as his daughter, but the Score never pointed out how they should interact with each other and Evenos decided to take advantage of that. Evenos was an orphan and never did have any family and he wasn't going to waste this chance to have a family of his own, despite how small this family was.

He knew from the Score that there still was quite a long time till his time ended, but he wanted Cantabile to form more bonds with others. It wasn't like she didn't have friends of her own, not at all. The main problem was Mohs. He knew how hostile the two were at each other, and although the Score did say Cantabile would be promoted in the future, that was after he passed the position of Fon Master to the next one.

Though it was a well known fact that Mohs always followed the Score word by word, he knew that sometimes Mohs just loved to twist the words of the Score to his own advantage, like how he tricked Kimlasca into giving him full control of the Fon Machine Lab 1 in Belkend. What the Score did say was for some of the people from the Order of Lorelei to perform some of the more time consuming experiments in that lab and it _never_ said anything about bargaining with the Duke to have _full control_ of the lab. He also doubted Mohs was only using the lab for the experiments indicated in the Score.

Mohs would likely find a way to get rid of Cantabile the moment Evenos stepped down from being the Fon Master. He knew Cantabile could take care of herself and she had also got many supporters in the Oracles, but Mohs was just too cunning for a hot head like Cantabile and would use every possible chance he could find to make her career in the Oracles miserable. Evenos knew he needed to find a way to prevent that from happening and had found possibly the best and only way to help Cantabile. He had given her the mission to fetch the future Fon Master of the Order and hoped she would also volunteer to look after him until he officially received the title.

He knew it sounded like he was manipulating both Cantabile and the would-be Fon Master, but he couldn't care what others thought of him because of this. He loved Cantabile and would do anything for his only daughter. He also understood that the child, the would-be Fon Master, would need as much help and friendly faces around him as he could. It was tradition for both the Fon Master and the Grand Maestro to each send at least a person to guide and train the future Fon Master.

The lessons for the future Fon Master wasn't what one would consider easy either. He himself only started staying in the Order of Lorelei when he reached sixteen and became the Fon Master at twenty one. But the next Fon Master would be appointed at the mere age of ten! Lorelei knew what kind of lessons and training he had to go through, and at such a young age!

He didn't know about Mohs, but he bet Mohs would find a way to manipulate the child. That didn't happen when Evenos was training to be the Fon Master, the previous Grand Maestro was like a father figure to him and a personal friend of Evenos' predecessor. But Mohs was someone he would always be wary of, and who better for him to send to help the child fight against Mohs' ideals than Cantabile?

"He just turned five a week ago! Even if it's the Score, how could you do that?" Cantabile nearly shouted after she slammed her hands on the desk separating her and the other occupant in the room.

"You should know better than anyone that I don't really have any say in the matter." Evenos replied tiredly, he himself was also opposed to the idea of doing that to a five-year-old child.

"You could have just withheld that information and not tell them who is going to be the next Fon Master until later."

"It wasn't in the Closed Score, any scorer could have easily read it."

"... right... I am sorry for losing my temper." Cantabile said as she tried her best to calm herself down and not direct the blame at the man before her.

"No harm done." A pause, then, "do you want me to send another person to do it?"

"No, I will do it." Cantabile said and began to leave the room.

"Cantabile," Evenos called just as said girl reached the door, "I am glad that you are as angry at this as I am. And please, be gentle to him."

Cantabile nodded at Evenos' personal request and left his office.

He had seen the child himself when he was at school, no, he wasn't even old enough to go to school yet, dear Lorelei, he was just a tiny thing that was still going to the nursery! He had seen from afar how frail the child was and how dependent he was on the teachers in the nursery and his parents. His parents also just learned that their only son was selected by the Score to be the next Fon Master and had to start his training in the Order of Lorelei last week during their son's _birthday_. But this can't be helped... this was the next best thing he could do for the child, to send someone passionate enough to guide the would-be Fon Master.

The Closed Score was not read to the population for the sole reason that they didn't want people to openly do things that was not written in the Score whenever they heard tragedies was coming their way. In a way, it was to preserve their sanity as he seriously doubted anyone could stand hearing about their own death on their birthdays.

Being selected as the next Fon Master was supposed to be an honour, but that joyful news was twisted into the most unimaginable nightmare just because the Score said that the child had to leave his parents, permanently, to start his Fon Master training when he was only _five _years old.

It was true that all lives on Auldrant were predetermined by the Score, but at least the others didn't have to know the tragedies that was going to befall them and their own death before it happened_._ But this wasn't the case... Ion... the last Fon Master of this world, had to leave his parents and could never see them again just because the Score said that he had to spend the _last_ seven and a half years of his life in the Order of Lorelei. And the kid just had to be the only one with the authority to read the Closed Score, to read to himself his death when he reached twelve.

He had also read the Closed Score of himself and knew when his death would be, but at least he had already lived a long and fulfilling life and he had hope. Hope that the hold the Score had on the world would finally be no more. He didn't know how long it would take to overturn the Score, maybe before his death or maybe after his death, but either case was fine for him, at least he had the hope that Cantabile and his other loved ones could have the chance to set their own path away from the Score.

He hoped that whatever miracle that was going to happen could happen before Ion reached twelve. If not, he could only pray that someone would be able to let him see the world in its most beautiful shape before he had to leave it.

* * *

**~ Omake: Dist's 'Brilliant' Naming Sense ~**

"What about Hell Pyre?" Kratos asked.

"I guess that's okay." Dist replied after thinking for a while.

"Super Lighting Blade?"

"At least there's the term super there." Dist said, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"Light Spear Canon?"

"Fine, but not very stylish." Dist grunted out after a very long pause of consideration.

"Then what's the problem of that name?" Kratos raised an eyebrow as he asked the question.

"But the name Dual Punishment is so lame!" Dist exclaimed wide eyed, amazed at Kratos _not _seeing the problem with that name.

Kratos sighed as he thought of the _lame _name that Dist would surely give to the technique he just taught him if he didn't do any damage control now.

"Fine, we will think of another name for it _together_. Any idea?" Kratos said, stressing the word 'together'.

Before Dist could start, Kratos immediately added, "not the exact name, just some idea as to what you want the name to be based on."

"To be based on? Ummm..." After another minute or so of pondering, Dist drawled, "something about the moon?"

"Why?" Kratos asked, thinking they were finally getting somewhere with this naming lesson. Really, was there such a thing as to lessons that taught people how to give names?

"Ummm... it's a scythe, something like a symbol of Death God, which associates to the night, and the only gorgeous thing I can think about when talking about the night is the moon. Yes, that's the only beauti..."

_And here I was getting my hopes up that he could at least say something like the blade of the scythe is silver and it looked like a moon when he whirls around with the blade of it pointing outwards... _Kratos thought tiredly.

He tuned out the remaining of Dist's long speech about how only the most gorgeous and beautiful thing in the universe should be associated to his person as Kratos wondered if there would ever come a day when Dist could finally understand what a normal and cool name sounds like.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

We finally get to see original Ion in this chapter, I am still thinking whether I am going to depict him as the devil child he was in the manga or the saint he was in the anime (though it was in Arietta's perspective... Ion's also an angel when in the manga if Arietta's the one to give the description...). Sadly nothing much was said about him in the game, but I am thinking of mixing his angelic and demonic trait together, seeing as I got Cantabile to be his 'nanny'.

I didn't think I would be writing another Omake, but I have got this funny and hilarious scene forming in my head and just decided to write them out. Hope you all like it.

_Uploaded on 7 December 2012. Edited on 17 May 2013._


	23. Similarities Between the Two

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; _Character remembering a past conversation_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

******Chapter 22: Similarities Between the Two**

Kratos entered the shop in front of him. He saw weapons being piled up in little dunes while armors were scattered all over the ground, some even stuck to the wall with arrows pinning them down. It was a very disorganized weapon/armor shop, unlike the others he saw on the way here. He walked straight to the counter where the shopkeeper, although aware of the fact that a customer, probably the first one in a while, entered, was busy examining her nails.

Kratos passed a piece of paper to the woman without a word who just lazily looked up and grabbed the paper. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she read the paper, her expression returned to neutral once she finished reading and sighed. "We are short on 'them' for the time being." She looked at Kratos and continued in a lazy tone. "Though I heard that they're shipping some to St. Binah."

"No. That wasn't part of our agreement." Kratos said.

The woman blinked and after a while, realization dawned on her. "What? You are just a hired hand? I thought N-"

"I'm not hired by anyone, I'm just a passerby that offered to help."

The woman narrowed her eyes at Kratos and the two started a staring contest which, unsurprisingly, the woman lost. She broke their eye contact and started laughing. "So you are another one that had fal-"

"Think what you will, but as I said just now, I have no interest in doing what you were suggesting."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Fine, spoilsport. If you go to Tunnel Twenty, you should be able to grab some of 'them'." She took out a pen and paper and wrote something on it before passing it to Kratos.

Kratos nodded and accepted the piece of paper and left the shop. Just before the door to the shop closed, he heard the woman muttering something like 'that bitch grabbing all the good man' and resisted the urge to sigh or roll his eyes. After he left the shop, he walked to the edge of the road and looked down the spiralling road towards the deepest part of Akzeriuth.

Akzeriuth, the best mining city in Auldrant, was easily one of the most desirable city to both Kimlasca and Malkuth for its high quality ores. It was originally Kimlascan territory, but during the Hod War, Malkuth laid claim to it and so instead of Kimlasca, Akzeriuth's mineral output had been going to Malkuth.

Surely, Kimlasca could also get their share through Daath or Chesedonia, but then they would have to deal with the extra tariffs. Though it's not as hard a problem to solve as that time when there's a lack of Rugnican Death Cap as Kimlasca could still buy the raw materials, but at a much higher price, he was sure that Kimlasca suffered a great loss when they lost the city and, Score or not, another war would most likely broke out in the future for the ownership of this city.

The city looked like an inverted cone that was embedded into the earth. There were many tunnels in Akzeriuth mining different ores and Tunnel Twenty was one of the largest tunnel located near the bottom of the city. Kratos noted the entrance to Tunnel Twenty and looked up to the sky and saw that the sun was about to set. It would be another hour or so till the miners finished their work for the day and for Kratos to 'explore' the tunnel freely.

Truth be told, Kratos himself wasn't sure if it's a good idea. He told the woman in the shop just now that he wouldn't steal anything, but now that he think of it, going into the tunnel when others weren't looking and took away some mineral ores did sound stealing to him. Well, to be fair, he had been doing that, the first part, quite frequently, but those were just information gathering and he never took anything away and always put them back the way it was before he touched them.

_I guess it doesn't count as stealing if I go to the part of the tunnel they haven't explored... yet. _He knew it was a sorry excuse, but he didn't have the luxury to look around the world and find another mine that still hadn't been discovered yet, nor could he just stroll into a registered weapon shop and buy 'them' without being asked questions that he wouldn't be able to answer.

"_If there isn't any other way apart from stealing, just think of it as Malkuth owed us, after all, we were her citizens that her Emperor chose to abandon."_

Realizing that there was no way around this, Kratos decided to just walk around the city to pass the time. Luckily, in a mining town such as Akzeriuth, apart from inns and bars, there were a lot of weapon and armor shops, and what better for a swordsman to spend time than in weapon shops? Though there were some weapon shops near where Kratos was standing at, he barely glanced at the display windows and decided that he needed to get to a lower level before he could find one with better quality weapons.

As he walked further down, he started to feel something weird. It felt nostalgia, but at the same time he couldn't really place what that was. It was just a prick in the back of his mind and he would have thought he imagined it if not for that feeling getting stronger, still not very strong, but at least comparatively a bit stronger than before, as he walked further down.

If he was anyone but Kratos Aurion, the 'ever stoic swordsman' as dubbed by Yuan, he would have furrowed his brows as he searched through his memories for that nostalgic feeling, but Kratos just walked calmly towards the location where the feeling was the strongest and found himself in front of one of the better looking weapon shops in the lower part of the city.

He walked into the shop and saw arrays of weapons lining up on the shelves in a very organized way, unlike the one he entered not long ago. Since the feeling wasn't strong enough for him to pinpoint exactly which weapon was the one giving off it, he started examining the weapons one by one.

It was a tedious way to look for a specific weapon, but that's also the only way as Kratos didn't think it would be a good idea for him to just walk up to the counter and asked the man which weapon had been giving off a weird feeling. No, he was quite certain that if he really did ask that question, the man would just look at him weirdly thinking he had hit his head. However, after Kratos had examined all the weapons in the shop, he still didn't find what he had been looking for.

"Excuse me, sir, is there anything I can help? Any specific weapon you are looking for?"

Kratos turned to see that the shopkeeper had left the counter and walked up to him. He glanced around and noticed that he was the only one left in the shop, except the shopkeeper, and it was already dark outside. He inwardly cursed his carelessness as he knew he had been too engrossed in looking for the weapon giving off the feeling to notice that it was already past the closing time of the shop.

He wanted to tell the man that he was fine and he just didn't find anything he wanted but he felt an impulse and asked a question instead. "Is there anything else that is not on display?"

The man cocked an eyebrow for a moment or two before smiling as he seemed to have realized something. "Yes, please wait here for a while, I will get it for you."

Once the man left, Kratos had a strong urge to curse his luck as he had an equally strong feeling that this was, once again, something predicted by the Score. What else would it be but the Score seeing as how the man seemed to know what exactly Kratos was looking for? He bet the man was told in his birth Score that a mercenary was coming to get that specific weapon and that was the reason he purposefully took that weapon off from display.

If he had known, he would have accepted Evenos' offer to let him read the Score of himself. But no, he had stubbornly and politely declined thinking it's better for him to not know what the Score had in store for him. If he knew the Score, at least he could have saved the time examining all the other weapons in the store and just go straight to the counter and ask.

Kratos' theory was further proved when the man came back to him only moments after he disappeared into the back of the shop. _Must have placed the weapon in a easy to grab position just for this moment._

Though he was confused when he noticed what the thing the man was carrying was: a box. This is a weapon shop and there's no way, except with the use of a wing pack or Dist's Fontect, to fit a weapon into it. However, Kratos knew that this was what he was looking for as that feeling got stronger the moment the man came out with the box.

"I think this is what you are looking for." The man said and gave the box to Kratos.

Kratos raised an eyebrow as he noticed how willingly and quickly the man passed the box to him. It didn't look like the Score was the only factor here, it was as if the box was cursed. He examined the box and although Kratos didn't recognize the material the box was made up of, the design looked familiar.

"What is this material?" He asked.

"I don't know, nobody here knows. My father came across it during one of his travels about twenty seven years ago." The man said.

Kratos opened the box and inside it was a golden bracelet. The bracelet looked familiar to Kratos and he took it out of the box to further examine it. However, the moment he took it out, he noticed the man backed up a few steps.

"Ah... it's just... you know... there's dust when you took it out and I'm allergic to dust and so..." The man said nervously.

"So it's cursed." Kratos commented offhandedly as he continued examining the bracelet, he was sure he had seen it, or something similar to it some time ago-

"No! It's not cursed! Just..."

Kratos lowered the bracelet and give the man his full attention. "It's fine, the Score told you that someone will come and pick up the cursed bracelet from you, correct?" It was more a statement than a question as Kratos was one hundred percent sure of the involvement of the Score by now.

The man hurriedly nodded. "So you will take it away?"

"Tell me how it is cursed."

"... it's..."

"I will take it no matter what you said, but I need to know what the problem with it is first." Kratos said as he noticed how reluctant the man was to share the information.

"... fine. It's... earthquakes..." The man paused and Kratos nodded to encourage him to continue.

"My family, up till my father that is, were merchants in Baticul. But ever since my father found that forsaken bracelet, earthquakes had been following him everywhere he went. Somehow Akzeriuth is the only place immune to the curse and that's how we ended up here."

It was a short explanation and the man looked to have skipped quite a lot of details, but Kratos guessed it's just because the man was really scared of the thought that Kratos would have second thoughts about taking it away. It's a pain, but it seemed he needed to be the one asking questions if he wanted to know more about the curse of this bracelet.

"How did your father know the earthquakes is coming from it? It could be just unlucky coincident."

"He traveled to Chesedonia in hopes of selling it at a high price and earthquakes had been following him all the way to Chesedonia and back. The desert never had any earthquake since... since forever! When my father went to sell the bracelet, no one even spared it a glance even though it's made of pure gold and when he decided to throw it away while in the Oasis on the way back to Baticul, it somehow reappeared in our home in Baticul! If you still didn't think it's cursed then I don't know what it is."

Kratos think about the information he was given. Earthquakes were normally due to movement of the tectonic plates but seeing as the Outer Land was being supported by Sephiroth Trees and not the mantle, there shouldn't be any earthquake at all. It's amazing enough that Yulia somehow made it possible for Mount Zaleho and that other nameless mountain on the island near Grand Chokmah to remain volcanoes, but the point was that the only cities that might experience earthquakes were Daath and Grand Chokmah, except if something happened to the Sephiroth Tree, which wasn't the case here.

"So the infamous earthquake that nearly floored the outskirts of Baticul twenty six years ago..." Kratos trailed off.

"Yes, that was the reason we decided to left Baticul... We traveled for years looking for ways to get rid of it until one day, my father's birth Score told him to settle down here. Miraculously, no more earthquake happened after that."

"And what makes you think it won't reappear in your home after I take it away?"

"I..." The man shrugged. "To tell the truth, I don't know, but that's what the Score said."

* * *

It was two hours after Kratos left the weapon store with the box and the cursed bracelet securely in one of his pockets. He was curious about the bracelet, but he decided that he could unravel the mystery behind it later. For the time being, he had work to do and many people were waiting for his return with the required materials.

He was currently in Tunnel Twenty. The tunnel was very dark, especially since the workers had extinguished all light sources before leaving and Kratos had no desire to light them up for fear of alerting anyone of an unauthorized person 'exploring' the tunnel. However, the darkness didn't hinder Kratos at all as his angelic vision included night vision that allowed him clear view of the inside of the tunnel.

He was venturing to a deeper part of the tunnel where the path became narrower and more difficult to navigate. He said it himself that he didn't want to rob the miners of the minerals in the mine, so he decided to get as deep as he could get hoping to stumble upon somewhere where no miners had been to yet and would be near impossible for them to even reach.

He came to a large cave after passing several narrow paths and saw tools being carelessly thrown around and no rail was in front of him.

_So they haven't started here yet._

Kratos walked further into the cave and saw that the path ended about thirty meters into the large cavern. He walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the deep abyss. It was so dark and deep that even Kratos couldn't make out the bottom of it.

It felt bit weird to know that he was actually on a fifteen-kilometer-thick land that was floating at least twenty kilometers in the sky and currently looking down at what others thought of as a deep abyss but in reality was still at least thirty three kilometers above the actual ground, or liquefied mantle.

Looking at the not-so-underground cavern, Kratos was once again amazed at the technology of this world two thousand years ago. After all, there were many issues Yulia had to deal with apart from just raising the crust into the sky, like atmospheric pressure, temperature and exposure to UV. He was sure the technology was even more advanced and profound than the magitechnology Aselia had four thousand years ago. Sure, they had the world-splitting thing, but that was Origin's, a superior being's, power, so that didn't really count. Though to be fair, Auldrant had Lorelei... but still...

_Maybe if the Kharlan War didn't happen and there's no shortage of mana and the world was allowed to further its technological development for two thousand years more... _Kratos mentally shook his head to rid himself of all these thoughts about science and technology.

Really, he had been around Yuan for too long... then there's Dist... now that he thought about it, he was always around some crazy scientists... at least Yuan outgrew it about a thousand years ago... but then there're Kvar and Rodyle, who were thankfully dead, and one by his hand no less, then Raine... and now there's Dist...

Seeing that there's nowhere else to go except downwards, Kratos called out his blue translucent wings, which lighted up the cave immediately, and took off from the cliff. He pulled out the paper he received a while ago and looked at the very realistic drawing of the minerals with some description next to it and began looking around as he descended.

After nearly half an hour, he saw something embedded in the wall to his left that looked very similar to the ore drawn on the paper and flew to it. He saw a narrow piece of rock sticking out and landed on it and dispersed his wings. It wouldn't do to suffer from mana depletion because he flew too much and was trapped here until he replenished his mana.

Kratos used his sword to strike at the rock surrounding the ore and used his angelic strength to pull the ore out once most of the rock surrounding it was gone. He was comparing it to the hand drawing on the paper and the notes describing it when suddenly the cave began shaking and he lost his footing.

He held onto the rock he had been standing on but the shaking made some of the rocks sticking out at various angles in the cave crumble, including the rock Kratos was holding onto. He immediately drew out his sword and stuck it into the wall to slow down his fall. He stopped falling after dropping another few meters and noticed that the shaking had ceased. He waited in the same position for a while to make sure the shaking, no, _earthquake_, had stopped.

Suddenly that weird and nostalgic feeling the bracelet gave off increased and Kratos remembered the curse of the bracelet. He took out the bracelet and examined it. He knew it wasn't the best time or location to do so, but he noticed that the feeling the bracelet gave off had been ever increasing as he got deeper and deeper into the cave, he just didn't realized it was the bracelet till after the earthquake ceased.

_But the man said there isn't any earthquake as long as it is in Akzeriuth. _Quickly doing some calculation in his mind, he realized that the weapon store where the bracelet was in was very near to the centre of Akzeriuth, while the cavern he was currently in was nearly two kilometers from the center of the mining city and didn't really count as within the city.

Deciding he had to act fast lest he were to be buried alive in this underground cavern, he drew out his wings and quickly flew back up. However, he didn't get to go very far before the shaking started again, this time even more violent than last time. He was busy dodging the debris raining down on him when he spotted another cave on the wall in the direction of Akzeriuth. He saw that the cave extends quite far in that direction and decided to take the bet and flew into the cave.

Once he was about three hundred meters into the cave, the shaking stopped and Kratos landed on the ground. He didn't knew how far he needed to go on until he was counted to be in Akzeriuth nor did he understand how that curse of the bracelet worked, he just knew that he couldn't afford to stop until he was near the center of Akzeriuth. Then he would take time to first unravel the mystery of the bracelet if he wanted to go anywhere else.

It's been another half an hour since he entered this new cave. He didn't know how close to Akzeriuth he was now as it was difficult to keep track when the cave itself looked like a maze with many obstacles. The good thing from entering the cave was that the earthquakes had stopped about ten minutes ago, so he guessed he was quite close to the center of the city now.

However, he now had the problem of being trapped underground with no way out. Well, he wasn't really trapped, he could always track backwards, but he couldn't do so without facing the risk of making the whole cave and tunnel collapse on him.

Although Kratos only got the general idea that he was still heading towards the direction of Akzeriuth, he knew he wasn't that deep into the ground and might still be able to find a path linking back to one of the lowest tunnels of the mining city.

After another ten minutes of trekking, he started to feel tired and decided to rest for a while before continuing on. Ever since he came to Auldrant, he felt some of his angelic power leaving him, sure, he still got enhanced eye sight, enhanced hearing and 'superhuman strength', as Lloyd so dubbed, he got tired more easily than before. Though that was to be expected from this mana lacking planet.

_Speaking of mana..._ Kratos closed his eyes as he concentrated on the feeling of mana, just mana, not fonons, coursing through his body. It's been so long since he tried to feel the mana coursing through his body. Sure, he had been using his mana wings, but that was also somehow tainted with fonon now that his life mana was mixed with the Fonon of Sound.

But that wasn't the reason he suddenly decided to focus on his mana, no, Kratos was never a man to do things on a whim, well, maybe that time when he helped Anna escape the human ranch... and that time when Anna died and he decided to go back to Cruxis... but those were different in the sense that it involved his family...

Once he got reacquainted with the feeling of pure mana, he took out the cursed bracelet. _No, it isn't mana either... but it still feels familiar... _

The bracelet was made of pure gold and was quite heavy, it's no wonder that whoever found it wanted it for themselves or to sell it at a high price. Judging from the design and the size, it seemed to be more of an upper arm bracelet than one that people wore on their wrist. The width of it was about five centimeters. There were two rows of holes, each row six holes, so there were a total of twelve holes on the bracelet and only one hole was embedded with a ruby. The holes were evenly spaced and the space in between every three holes were engraved with some sort of writings.

_Hmmm... these aren't Fonics nor Ancient Ispanian... in fact, these looked more similar to... _His thought trailed off as he closed his eyes and remembered the first time he saw Dist, who still called himself Saphir then, writing in his journal all those years ago inside the cave in the forest near Keterburg.

**** Flashback ****

"Is it... a journal?" Kratos asked as he stared at the notebook in front of Saphir.

"Yes, you got a problem with men writing journal?" Saphir sneered at the thought of another stupid man thinking he was too girlish to keep a journal.

"No. I'm sorry... it's just..." Normally Kratos wouldn't even care if some stranger he just knew brought out cosmetics or other crazy stuff, but... "the words..."

"The words?" Saphir looked confused at Kratos' reply. "Oh I see! You like my handwriting!" The scientist exclaimed, delighted that someone appreciated his handwriting.

Kratos would have said no if it weren't for Saphir suddenly started going on and on about how he always think his handwriting looked good among other things. Thinking it's best to just let him continue talking, Kratos tuned out the scientist's blabbing, which wasn't that hard considering he had also done something similar quite frequently in the past, and instead focused on the notebook.

It was true that the words had drawn his attention, but it was because they looked very familiar and that he could somehow recognize the words on the cover as 'journal' with just a glance, which shouldn't be possible considering he was quite far away from his own planet. But that's exactly what happened: the language in which Saphir was writing and talking in was similar to the Angelic language.

**** End Flashback ****

He had promised himself that he would solve this mystery when he had the time, but granted, he had been busy figuring out the reason Derris Kharlan was locked to orbiting Auldrant, then once he knew why he needed to help out with this Score thing. But it seemed that fate, or maybe the Score again, deemed it fit to bring out that promise he made himself all those years ago.

He looked at the engravings again, this time, the words didn't look even remotely like Fonics, Ancient Ispanian or Angelics, but they were similar to another language that also existed in Aselia: the Ancient Elven language. The Ancient Elven was lost to the world seven thousand years ago, which meant about three thousand years before he was born.

Saying that the language was lost seemed too final, the language was just not used anywhere else in the world anymore, but researchers would still be able to come across it in the archive in Heimdall, the elven village. But that's it, all other ruins and antiques not inside Heimdall dating back to when Aselia still used Ancient Elven as one of the common languages were destroyed in the Ancient Kharlan War or by Mithos when he set up Cruxis.

The Ancient Elven was also similar to the language used by summoners when doing summoning, which was also considered a lost art even before Kratos was born, though there were still some differences between the two. The language used by the Summoner Clan was called by another name: Summonics. Kratos only knew about all this as he was born a noble and a noble needed to have knowledge about the different languages, whether they were still in use or not.

The first time he was thankful to have lessons on Ancient Elven and Summonics was when he translated the book about summoning for Mithos and the second was when he acted as a translator for him and Volt when Mithos tried to form a pact with the traditional and stubborn spirit that refused to speak in a newer tongue. The third time was now.

U [ ] G [r] I [ ] S [ ] R [ ] S [ ]

[ ] V [ ] M [ ] R [ ] P [ ] O [ ] G

( [ ] - hole, [r] – hole with ruby, capital letters – engravings)

He had a vague guess about what the upper row was, especially given the circumstances he had come across up till now. But he didn't get what the lower row was. The letters didn't make any sense to him no matter how he looked at it. Well, some letters he could understand, but when all those letters appeared on the same row... it made him want to throw away his first theory.

However, if his theory was correct, then he had an idea as to how to remove the 'curse' on the bracelet.

* * *

******~ Omake: Birth of the 'Evil' Fon Master ~**

"Ion! Where are you?" A blonde soldier shouted, his voice bouncing from wall to wall in the empty hallway, amplifying the sound.

"Oh geeze Marcel, cut it out, my ears are ringing." Cantabile said to her friend as she stepped out from behind one of the pillars in the not-so-empty hallway.

Marcel's eyes lit up the moment he saw Cantabile. "Ah Cantabile, good to see you. Have you seen Ion?"

"The little evil brat? Why are you looking for him anyway? I thought he doesn't have any lesson till noon?" Cantabile shrugged.

Marcel's eyes widened as soon as he heard the term 'evil brat' and gasped. "Cantabile! You shouldn't call him that! What if someone else heard you?"

"What? No one who shouldn't hear it are here anyway, or are you going to tell others about that?" Cantabile glanced at Marcel out of the corner of her eyes.

"No, of course not, when have I ever ratted you out on things like that." Marcel sighed, then he realized he shouldn't be having this conversation with Cantabile. "But that's beside the point! Anyway, you haven't answered my question about Ion."

"And you mine. What did the brat do this time?"

"Grand Maestro Moh's desk and the documents on it were littered with flour and his chair was soaking with water. He was very furious and it's better that I get Ion now before he decided to have the whole Order look for him... it wasn't pretty last time." Marcel shuddered as he remembered last time when Mohs ordered the whole Order to drop whatever they're doing just to search for Ion with the reason of fearing for their future Fon Master's _safety._

"Yeah, I got to agree with you on that." Cantabile also shuddered as her mind also drifted to that infamous 'accident'. "But, guess what? I'm off duty right now so that's none of my concern." Cantabile said cheerfully.

Marcel just sighed, already gotten used to Cantabile's trait. "Catch you later then, I still have a Fon Master apprentice to search for." He sprinted off to look for the child Fon Master to be in other rooms and corridors.

"Though I never said I haven't seen him." Cantabile said to the now empty hallway.

"Is he gone?" A high pitched voice whispered from behind one of the other pillars in the hallway.

"Yes, you can come out now." Cantabile called out.

A boy of around seven years old walked out and came to a stop before Cantabile. "So what are you going to do?" Ion asked.

"You are coming with me to Maestro Tritheim's office." Cantabile said sternly.

"Eeehhh!" Ion whined at the thought of going through another boring lecture of why exactly he shouldn't prank on others.

"Oh, so you wanna go to Moh's office instead?" Ion cringed at the thought of the much _much _more boring lecture that Mohs was surely going to give him.

"By the way, kid, I'm very disappointed." Cantabile crossed her arms before her and looked at Ion with a disapproval look.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think Mohs would come back from the meeting so soon!" To any other one, they would think that there's something really wrong with the direction the conversation was drifting to, but not Cantabile.

"No. It doesn't excuse the fact that you were caught red-handed. I thought I taught you better than that." Cantabile said seriously. "And why are you using flour?"

"I was going to pour water on the flour to make it all sticky but I splashed the water onto the chair instead... I sort of panicked when Mohs opened the door." Ion huffed as he explained why the prank he pulled wasn't as damaging as he first planned.

"Hmmm... my advice is that next time consult me about Mohs' schedule first." She winked at Ion who grinned in reply as they walked to Maestro Tritheim's office.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Sorry that it is so over-due! I finally had access to my PS2 and decided to play both TOA and TOS again to refresh my memory (there's only so much anime can do... and it was nearly 6ys since I last played TOA and 7yrs since I last played TOS...). And since I have lost my memory card, I have to start both games from scratch T.T ... meaning no EXPx2 and had to do all the side quests all over again... and for some reason I just had to play HARD mode to make it more exciting and more time consuming... (Just imagine fighting a HARD mode Nebilim with all your characters near level 70... even Guy, the one with the strongest DEF in my team, died from just one hit...) back to topic, I have finished TOA and am now on its second playthrough (well... not really second playthrough... more like fifth of sixth... but you get my meaning^^") I still haven't finished TOS yet (oh gosh, there are 9 different endings and I still haven't even finished one! Though I think I am only gonna go for 3 or 4 instead of all 9...) but since I'm more familiar with the TOS story than TOA (just for the sole reason that Kratos was in TOS), I decided it's time to pick up the story again. Once again, really sorry for the long wait.

So the first chapter after such a long time is a chapter only focusing on Kratos and ends with a cliffhanger... not to mention that this chapter, including omake, is nearly 1500 words less than last chapter, also including omake... hope it doesn't disappoint you guys. I also hope you like the omake I have for this chapter. Since my last omake, I have been thinking of trying to put up omake's for all the other chapters to come. But I don't really think I could think up of some side stories to write up for all the other chapters... so maybe instead of an omake, you will see something like a skit or nothing at all.

I am also glad to notice that while I was away not writing fanfic, I have quite a number of people favouring and following this fic! Not to mention the reviews I have gotten! Many thanks to splitheart1120, RB3, Mountainwing and Ryuken-Sogetsu and all the others that had reviewed this fic before!

_Uploaded on 15 February 2013. Edited on 29 May 2013._


	24. The Planet Called Derris Kharlan

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_; _Character remembering a past conversation_

* * *

******Chapter 23: The Planet Called Derris Kharlan**

Kratos didn't know how long had passed since he entered the tunnels, it was impossible to tell the time while in underground. All he knew was that he needed to get to the center of Akzeriuth, or what he assumed to be the center of Akzeriuth, where he believed the feeling given off by the bracelet would be at its strongest.

It was difficult enough to tune himself to the already weak energy pulses given off by the bracelet, but he also needed to pinpoint the exact spot where it was the strongest and although he had no method to tell the time, he was sure at least half a day had passed since he figured out, or so he believed, how to remove the so called curse of the bracelet.

He eventually stopped on a huge plain made of smooth rocks, thinking that he had finally found the spot he was looking for. He knelt down and placed his ears onto the smooth surface and punched the rock with moderate strength. He listened to the vibrations in the rock to make sure it was safe for him to do what he was about to do.

Finally satisfied, he stood up and drew out his sword. He jumped up high to the ceiling of the cave and performed a halfway somersault while still airborne so that his feet landed on the ceiling, he made use of both gravity and momentum to bounce off the ceiling and dived at a high speed towards the spot he was standing on just now.

"Super Sonic Thrust!" After the attack made its impact, Kratos jumped back a few steps to observe the result of his attack just now. The force of the thrust was so strong that the rocky ground broke apart revealing an even deeper and darker hole under it. He unfurled his wings and flew into the newly made hole.

_Got you._ He thought when he saw a very dim light coming from the bottom of the hole and felt the bracelet began vibrating ever so slightly and giving off a humming noise.

He flew down towards the light source and as he neared the bottom, he saw that the source of the dim light was a creature floating several inches above the ground. Once he landed, he took a better look at the creature and, inwardly thanking whoever was above, that this creature, which he supposed to be Gnome or some deity of this world that controlled the earth element, looked nothing like the Gnome in Aselia.

The creature in front of him was small, only about the size of his upper arm. It was brown in color with part of its body covered by some white furs. It had quite a long neck, but not so long to make it look like a horse, and equally long legs, and seemed to be the kind of animal that walked on four legs. It had a tail that, instead of looking like a real tail, looked like some coral grove. The creature was draping on a floating sphere with its eyes closed, as if taking a casual rest while lying on the sphere.

Kratos once again took out the bracelet and felt it resonating with energy. Suddenly he felt another similar energy mixed itself with that of the bracelet an-

"Ki Palesti-ihan jad Lorelei?" Kratos lowered the bracelet and looked up to see that the creature was awake and staring at him.

He searched through his memories for the translation of the words the creature just said as he remembered that he was dealing with beings that might very well be speaking in a tongue similar to Ancient Elven and realized that it was indeed very heavily accented Ancient Elven.

"A descendant of... Lorelei?" He frowned slightly as he repeated the question directed at him. "Who are you?" He asked the creature before him, also in Ancient Elven.

"I am Gnome, the Aggregate Sentience of the Second Fonon, the Fonon of Earth." Gnome looked at Kratos as if scrutinizing him. "I see... a long time has passed if his name no longer holds any significance in this world."

Thinking that there was a Summoner – _was that what they called in this world?_ - a long time ago with the name Lorelei, Kratos simply let the matter drop, but even so... "Why do you think I am a descendant of this Lorelei?"

"Because that's what woke me up from my deep slumber... the blood of Lorelei and the pact we made..."

Kratos held up the bracelet. "Are you perhaps talking about this bracelet?"

Gnome's eyes lit up at the sight of the bracelet "Ah, so you have it, descendant of Lorelei. Yes, that is the proof or our pact." He floated towards Kratos and examined the bracelet.

"I see, so the only remaining pact is the one between me and him..." Gnome stopped his examination of the bracelet and floated back to at least a meter in front of Kratos. "Are you here to seek my power like he did so many years ago, descendant of Lorelei?"

Now Kratos was getting a bit irritated, what with Gnome keep calling him 'descendant of Lorelei' even though he already told, well, hinted, him that he only felt the presence of this Lorelei person because of the bracelet. He was from another planet, there's no way he was related to some ancient Summoner in this world.

However, instead of just lashing out at the Aggregate Sentience of Earth, Kratos decided to let him realize the mistake he made himself. "You are an Aggregate Sentience, equivalent to what I know as a Summon Spirit in my world, so you should be able to tell that I am not from this world."

Gnome looked at Kratos and tilted his head slightly to the side. "I know not what you are talking about, descendant of Lorelei."

Then as if somehow knowing what Kratos was thinking, he continued. "The blood of Lorelei I felt didn't come from the proof of pact, it is coursing through your very own veins." Ignoring the look of confusion apparent in the eyes of the man before him, he continued. "And speaking of Summon Spirit..." He trailed off and floated back towards Kratos again and circled him twice.

"I see... your body not only contained the energy that powers the Summon Spirits, it's also mixed with fonons... but that fonons... so Lorelei succeeded... or not... if you are here..." He trailed off and closed his eyes as if pondering something. After a while, he opened them and looked at Kratos. "I know you are not familiar with your ancestor Lorelei... but does the name Lorelei holds any significance to you or this world?"

"Yes. Lorelei is the Aggregate Sentience of the Seventh Fonon, the Fonon of Sound." He answered slowly as he observed the reaction of Gnome to his answers, but being an aged old deity with Origin knows how much experience under his belt, Gnome showed no outward reaction, unlike the Gnome in Aselia.

"The Seventh... Fonon... so that's what happened..." He muttered under his breath and Kratos would have missed it if not for his enhanced hearing.

"Pardon my rudeness, but could you explain so I understand why it is that you know of Summon Spirit but doesn't seem to know about the Aggregate Sentience of the Seventh Fonon? And what of the human Lorelei? What did or did he not accomplished that is related to my presence here?"

Normally Kratos was much more composed than this, but not after being trapped in the underground for so long, nearly died from earthquakes that could cause the whole earth to collapse on him and dealing with some deity that kept on muttering as if he wasn't there.

"I apologize, des- what do you prefer to be called?" Gnome asked as he noticed the angel before him was not appreciated being called the 'descendant of Lorelei'.

"Kratos Aurion."

Gnome nodded. "I apologise, Kratos, I know not how long I have been asleep, but waking up after so long got me carried away. Could you tell me what the year is now?"

"N.D. 2009. However, if you don't know about the Fonon of Sound, then I guess the term N.D. doesn't mean anything to you. The Seventh Fonon was discovered in B.D. 2695, which is... approximately two thousand and thirty years ago."

"The year I last know was B.D. 12... so I have been sleeping for over four and a half millennia..." He looked at Kratos. "Though you don't feel like a very distant descendant of Lorelei."

Kratos would have let out a defeated sigh at the comment about him being the descendant of Lorelei again if not for his overwhelming urge to ask questions about this Lorelei person. "The Lorelei that made a pact with you, and the governor of the Seventh Fonon that you know nothing of, are they... one and the same?"

He knew it sounded ridiculous, but he had told himself a long time ago to never think of anything as impossible. After all, the very existence of himself could be considered as one of those impossible feats... who could honestly say that it was normal for a human being to live for four, or two if he were to go by the dating system in Auldrant, millennia?

Gnome pondered over the question for a while before making the decision. "I am not one for explanation, but I will see if I can get you to understand the basic idea. It's only fair for a victim such as you to understand their own heritage."

_One moment I am the descendant of Lorelei then the next I am a victim to some accident or tragedy I am not even aware of? _Kratos was very confused by Gnome's words but decided to stay silent and let the ruler of Earth start his explanation.

"I guess the best way to start is to to tell you about Lorelei Ispania, my pact maker, and the founder of the Kingdom of Ispania, the first human settlement that was large and organised enough to be called a country since the start of Auldrant." Gnome paused and looked at Kratos. "You may want to sit down as this will take a while."

Gnome began his explanation after Kratos sat down on the ground. "Lorelei was a superb Fonist. However, genius he might be, he wouldn't have united the world, or at least a quarter of it, without the help of us Aggregate Sentiences and Summon Spirits. Before he even started his dream to build his kingdom, he, with the help of his wife and brother-in-law, forged the pact bracelet, the very same one you were carrying, and journeyed across the worlds seeking us Aggregate Sentiences in Auldrant and Summon Spirits in _Sehi Laptilus._"

There was a moment of silence and Kratos noticed that Gnome was seeing if he was following so far and waiting for his signal to continue his explanation. Instead of nodding to let Gnome continue his explanation, he asked. "You said worlds and... _Sehi Laptilus..._ I take it that it is a world close to Auldrant where the... Summon Spirits resided."

Gnome didn't bother to hide his surprise this time when he heard the question. "You haven't heard of _Sehi Laptilus_? But I thought you, or at least one of your parents, came from that place."

All of this sounded ridiculous to Kratos, but for some bizarre reason, he could see the connection there and cooked up an equally ridiculous theory that, if correct, would make everything make more sense. "This _Sehi Laptilus,_ is it a giant purple comet enveloped in dense mana?"

"The colour may have changed over the course of time, but... yes... mana, that's what the Summon Spirits there called it. Are you saying that it goes by another name these days?"

Kratos didn't know what to say when Gnome confirmed his, ridiculous to the point that even he didn't understand how he came up with in the first place, theory. Then, realizing that he was asked a question, he answered. "Yes, it is called Derris Kharlan."

Gnome blinked. "Derris Kharlan?" Though his tone didn't change much, Kratos could hear the surprise in it. "Derris Kharlan was... the name of a person I once knew. That person was one of the citizens in _Sehi Laptilus_, and the brother-in-law of Lorelei."

Kratos breathed in deeply as he processed the information he was given and did some calculations in his mind. _His explanation hasn't gone to that point yet... but if Auldrant shared the same relationship with Derris Kharlan as Aselia did up till B.D. 12 or sometime around there... Derris Kharlan only came to Aselia ten thousand years ago... the time matches_(*)_ ... then it would be true that... _

The auburn haired man let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. _I came here with the intention of helping someone found their own city and here I am, in a planet very different from my own, talking to someone even older than me and discovering the origin of the place known as the holy ground in my home world... wait-_

"You mentioned that the... brother-in-law of Lorelei was in Derri- _Sehi Laptilus_, does that mean he and... Lorelei's wife were... elves?"

"Yes. That is what we called the residents in _Sehi Laptilus_."

"I see..." was all he could say as he closed his eyes to think about all this.

Though Kratos appeared to be very calm outwardly, his mind was anything but calm at the moment. _Though no one ever said that there was an elf in my family, it wouldn't be too far fetched for one of my ancestors to be an elf... and for me to be Lorelei's descendant... but enough about me._

Kratos shook his head mentally to rid himself of his thoughts, for now. "Sorry for the side tracking. Please continue with your explanation."

Gnome nodded. "As I was saying just now, Lorelei not only formed pacts with the Aggregate Sentience in Auldrant, he also formed pacts with the Summon Spirits in _Sehi Laptilus._ He was the first man to have formed pacts with all the sentinel beings of both worlds. Everything was going according to his plan and in another ten years he became the first King of the Kingdom of Ispania, but problem arose not long after that. It started in B.D. 7, when the Summon Spirit that governs the Law of Nature noticed a decline in the mana in _Sehi Laptilus_. Not long after, strange phenomena started occurring in Auldrant."

"Strange phenomena?" Kratos asked.

"Natural disasters and rapid climate change."

"Like formally hot regions became cold regions and vice versa?"

"Yes." Gnome looked that Kratos with alarm. "Are you saying that these strange phenomena are also happening now?"

"No, I just heard of it from a friend before." _It was just like what Yuan told me happened in Aselia a while ago, though that wasn't caused by a Summoner._

"The Summon Spirit of Law of Nature created beings called Centurions to quell the strange phenomena while people researched the cause of it. Theoretically, it was impossible for a person without any mana to utilize the power of Summon Spirits, but Lorelei made it possible using the pact bracelet that was enchanted not only with his own Fonic Artes, but also Derris' elven magic. However, there's only so much the bracelet can endure and the power of the Summon Spirits began to run wild, and being the sentinel beings of _Sehi Laptilus, _they subconsciously started to draw mana from their own planet to cover the energy they lost to the surroundings."

"I see. It is like a Fonist not being able to control their fonons, letting them leak out causing a disruption in the surroundings. And being Summon Spirits, the amount of mana they lost was so large that it not only affected their surroundings, but the whole world." Kratos said as he recalled the time when he first received fonons and nearly killed both him and Dist just because he couldn't control it properly.

"By the time we knew of the cause, too much mana had already flowed from _Sehi Laptilus_ to Auldrant that if Lorelei were to do something so drastic as to annul his pacts with the Summon Spirits, the abrupt stop of the flow would cause permanent damage to the inhabitants of Auldrant, not to mention that the Centurions that were in Auldrant still required mana to continue their duties. Thus, we decided to create new Summon Spirits and place them in _Sehi Laptilus_ to act as seals to stabilize the flow of mana instead."

_To have Summon Spirits act as seals to stabilise the flow of mana... it's the same of Mithos' idea when he split the world into two. _

"However, creating Summon Spirits was no easy feat and the Summon Spirit of Birth and the Summon Spirit of Element decided to use us Aggregate Sentience as... mould, for lack of a better word, for the new Summon Spirits. It was through us Aggregate Sentiences and the Summon Spirit of Element that the new Summon Spirits acquired their elemental affinity and part of their power, and it is through the Summon Spirit of Birth that the power that was a mixture of fonons and mana was moulded into pure mana to power the newly created Summon Spirits."

"The Elemental Summon Spirits... but then what about Celcius and Volt? There is no equivalent Aggregate Sentience in Auldrant." Kratos asked as he realized just which of the Summon Spirits were the 'newly' created ones.

"We needed more Summon Spirits in _Sehi Laptilus_ to stabilize the mana flow. The Summon Spirit of Ice was a result of a mixture of energy from Sylph and Undine, while the Summon Spirit of Lightning was from Sylph and Ifrit. However, as Auldrant was not a planet to rely on mana to begin with, the flow of mana needed to be stopped completely." Gnome paused as he noticed Kratos looked like he wanted to ask something.

"From what you just told me and what I have observed so far, the people of Auldrant don't require mana to live, so why would stopping the flow completely cause damage to the inhabitants on Auldrant? And if that's the case, why not just continue to let mana flow to Auldrant?"

"The people in Auldrant were not born to hold mana in their bodies. When they are exposed to too much mana, their body structure will mutate to allow the coexistence of mana and fonons, which nearly happened to Lorelei if not for the pact bracelet. After that, they became beings that needed to rely on mana to live on. That's why the flow of mana can't be stopped completely. As for your second question, _Sehi Laptilus_ was a much smaller planet and the mana it had wouldn't be able to support both planets for long."

Kratos was about to ask about the Giant Kharlan Tree, or whatever it was called then, that created mana but stopped at the last moment, realizing that it might simply haven't existed yet, seeing as how Ratatosk, or so he assumed, was being referred to as the Summon Spirit of the Law of Nature and not as the Summon Spirit of the Tree.

"Not to mention that too much mana would cause both mental and physical instability to a person. Even with the physical mutation to allow the coexistence of both energies, it would only be a matter of time before the mental instability started."

_No wonder he called me a victim... but my case was opposite to those he was talking about... but then..._

"_It shouldn't be possible for someone who didn't have the inborn ability to use Seventh Fonon..."_

"_I want to know the answer to that myself. I've heard that attempts had been made to create a pseudo Seventh Fonist in the past but it failed when the subject underwent some permanent damage."_

"_Neural contamination and Fonon mutation, sometimes the physical appearance of the subject will also be altered to suit the Seventh Fonon gathered in their body."_

_When they put it this way, mana sounds awfully similar to Seventh Fonon... and maybe I really need to ask Dist to give me that very overdue body check of mine. _He inwardly frowned as he started to feel a bit worried about what might have already been happening to his body, both physically and mentally.

"The first step of the plan was for Lorelei to absorb mana into himself, as he was mostly immune to the side effects of the intake of mana due to his pacts with the Summon Spirits, then with the help of the Aggregate Sentiences and Summon Spirits, he would decompose and reconstruct his own body into one that not only merely allow the coexistence of mana and fonon, but also the blending of fonon and mana into a new type of energy."

"The Seventh Fonon..." Kratos muttered, starting to see how it was possible to create a new type of fonon and just why said fonon is compatible with his body. _Seems I might not need to have that body check... yet._

Gnome nodded. "Lorelei had researched the very nature of both fonon and mana and learned that it was possible to mix the two together without causing harm to the human body by altering the frequency of vibration of the fonons to a specific value."

"The frequency of vibration... but how did he do that?"

"He was to use the power of the Summon Spirit of Death to decompose his body and the fonon in it; the Aggregate Sentience of the Fifth Fonon and Summon Spirit of Heart to hold his fonons and consciousness in place; the Aggregate Sentience of the First Fonon to change the frequency of his fonons to the desired value; the Aggregate Sentience of the Sixth Fonon to mix the modified fonons with mana; and finally the Summon Spirit of Birth to reconstruct his body."

_Ifrit, Shadow and Rem... I guess that explained why some of the Fonic Artes of the Fonon of Sound have the elemental attributes of Fire, Darkness and Light. And the healing power came from the Summon Spirit of Heart. _Kratos thought, then he realized something else. "You said as if you weren't there to witness the process." He pointed out.

"Yes. As I have said just now, when Lorelei created the Elemental Summon Spirits, he used a part of our energy, and that led to most of us starting our long slumber. I only knew of the plan, not what actually happened."

_No wonder he was surprised at most of the things I told him._ "Then what about Shadow, Ifrit and Rem?"

"Lorelei's own affinity was fire, so he didn't require as much power from Ifrit as from the rest of us. As for Shadow and Rem, lets just say that they are the most powerful Aggregate Sentiences, just as the Summon Spirits of Birth and Death are the most powerful Summon Spirits."

_The Summon Spirit of Birth I understand, seeing as how Origin is known as the King of Summon Spirit, but the Summon Spirit of Death? That's one title I have never heard of... though I guess anything could have happened in such a long time and that Summon Spirit may have simply ceased to exist._

After being told so many incredible things, Kratos wouldn't dare to think that it's impossible for a Summon Spirit to die. After all, Verius, the Summon Spirit of Heart, also 'died' during the Ancient Kharlan War only to reborn as an artificial Summon Spirit four thousand years later.

"The second stage of the plan is to let the people that were exposed to mana accept the newly construc- I mean Seventh Fonon, into their body to neutralize the harmful effect caused by mana and to completely convert the mana in their body into Seventh Fonon. It would be done by adding the Seventh Fonon to the Fon Belt and the core of the planet, we speculated that this stage would take centuries or even millennia to complete as the assimilation of a new type of energy to a whole planet and the people in it isn't something that could be done in a day or two."

Even before Gnome finished explaining the second stage of the plan, Kratos had lowered his head and looked at his hands in his laps with wide disbelieving eyes. _The Seventh Fonon in my body is going to convert my mana... all of it... into Seventh Fonon!? Then I... _He started to feel numb at the notion that his mana, the life energy he was born with and had been relying on for the past millennia, was going to completely disappear from his body.

Not knowing the internal struggle Kratos was facing, Gnone continued to outline the plan.

"The third and final step of the plan was to sever the ties between the two planets and let _Sehi_ _Laptilus_ drift away. It won't do to have even the mana of _Sehi Laptilus_ to be converted to Seventh Fonon as we didn't know what effect it would have on the elves and Summon Spirits. The plan was for Lorelei to annul the pacts between him and the Summon Spirits and Derris to form new pacts with them using the pact ring, an artifact that allows elves to form pacts with Summon Spirits, and use their power to carry out this final step."

The ruler of Earth sighed. "However, if you, a descendant of Lorelei, are here and still have a mixture of energies within you, it means that the third part failed and the second stage is still not completed."

_No, this is not the time for self pity._ After regaining his composure, the mercenary looked up and held his gaze with Gnome.

"No. Both stages of the plan succeeded. As I have said in the beginning, I am not from this world. However, after your explanation, I think I need to elaborate more." Kratos paused as he gathered his thoughts on what to say.

"I was born in Aselia, a planet quite far away from Auldrant that shared the same relationship with Derris Kharlan as Auldrant did. It was only until recently that the link between Aselia and Derris Kharlan was severed and I decided to leave with the people that lived in Derris Kharlan to find a new home. I never knew of Auldrant until five years ago when Derris Kharlan somehow locked its path to orbit around this planet. And as for the assimilation of Seventh Fonon, I would say that it's a success seeing as I haven't sensed any mana in this world since I first stepped on this planet. "

Gnome tilted his head slightly to show his confusion. "If that is the case, then why do you have Seventh Fonon in your body?"

Kratos mentally sighed as he prepared himself for an equally long explanation on his current predicament.

* * *

**~ Omake: The Most Annoying Summon Spirit ~**

"Lorelei!" A slender male with long ears and unruly auburn hair shouted the moment he spotted the pseudo Summoner that had snatched his sister away from him and stormed angrily towards the man.

Due to reasons he still couldn't fathom after all this years, Derris' beautiful and naïve younger sister had fallen in love with the human that had traveled to and settled down in _Sehi Laptilus_ to learn more about the arts of summoning. The two had been married for nearly twenty five years and they even had two sons already, but being the protective brother he was, Derris just couldn't find it in himself to fully accept his brother-in-law.

If one were to ask his sister, she would have simply rolled her eyes and tell you to ignore her brother's antics for her brother had a really serious sister-complex, even though said brother would never admit that he had a sister-complex. However, this time he wasn't angry at Lorelei due to something that included his sister, well, that too, but this time he was angry mainly because-

"Oh hey, Derris, nice to see you here, how are you adjusting to life in the new _Sehi La-_ I mean, Derris Kharlan? Must feel good to have a whole plan- I mean giant comet naming after you. I remember feeling giddy when I first created the Kingdom of Ispania, ahhh, such a nice name~ Too bad my son won't be the next king of it... anyway, I am going to finalize the plan with the elders and to say my final goodbyes to-" Lorelei didn't get to finish the sentence as Derris' fist connected with his left cheek knocking him a few feet backwards.

"Geeze, I thought we have been over this already! Even Miranda understands that I need to do this!" He snapped at Derris as he rubbed his now red cheek gently with his left palm.

"Yes, I know, and I am glad that you finally understand that my lovely sister is too good for you. But this isn't about that!"

"Then what? Apart from anything that involved my wife that is." Lorelei asked as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"What have you done to Gnome!?"

Now that really wasn't what he expected. "Gnome? What of him?" He then held up his right arm and looked at the bracelet clasped onto it. "I don't see anything wrong with it, the ruby is still shining brightly under sunlight and radiating the right amount of energy telling me that he is still sleepi-"

"I am not talking about _this _Gnome!" Derris cried out frustratingly.

Realization lit up in Lorelei's eyes and he looked at Derris with a serious expression. "Did something happen to him?"

"Yes! Why does he act like a punk? And what is it with his speaking habit? Not to mention that he is downright annoying, and what's with the ribbon on his head? And I don't want to even go into his appearance. He's male for Origin's sake!"

"Oh, that."

"Don't you 'oh, that' me! Which part of 'a Summon Spirit needs to be all high and mighty to be respected by the others' you don't understand?" The short tempered elf glared at the Summoner.

"Well, that too, but didn't you say it yourself that the Gnome of Auldrant was too stiff or something like that?" Then as if thinking of something else, Lorelei had this faraway look as if he was focusing at something behind the auburn-haired elf for a moment before returning his attention to the elf before him. "You don't like it?"

"No! Of course I don't like it!" Derris shouted.

"But when I first introduced it to the elders, they seemed to think that he's okay."

"Well I don't! And as a matter of fact, I don't even want to know why the elders are okay with the Summon Spirit of Earth acting like a teenager during his rebellious stage!"

After Derris finished his sentence, he noticed that Lorelei had this weird look as if trying very hard to fight back laughter. "What are yo-"

"Is that what you really think?" A very soft voice asked from behind Derris and he whipped around to see Miranda, his beloved sister standing behind him with her head lowered and fists clenched tightly at her sides.

"Mi- Miranda! Why are you here? I- I thought you wer-"

"Is that what you really think?" She repeated the questions with a louder voice and looked up at her brother with a furious expression. "That Gnome, the Summon Spirit of Earth, acts like a punk, had a weird way of speaking, is downright annoying, had an absurd appearance and terrible fashion sense?"

"Bu- but Miranda! Don't you think-"

Lorelei clicked his tongue and interrupted his brother-in-law. "Mind your next word dear brother of mine, your beloved sister was the one in charge of designing the very Summon Spirit you were just insulting." Lorelei said in a singsong voice.

Derris' mind became blank as he stared at his sister, he knew he should be thinking of the words to say to her to quell her anger... but all he could think of right now was...

… _I'm so screwed..._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

(*) I know it's a bit complicated, but please bear with my calculation, or feel free to just skip it if you are not interested, I myself am a science person and just need to make sure that every information I give in my fic fits: Auldrant has 756 days in one year, which means a little over two years on Earth equals to one year there. Then if I set Aselia's dating system to be similar to that of Earth, about 344 days a year (not 356 days!), then 5 years in Auldrant will be approx. 11 years in Aselia. If I make it so that Derris Kharlan left Auldrant in B.D. 12, that would be ~4700 years ago in Auldrant and ~10,300 years ago in Aselia. In TOS, or maybe TOS2, can't really remember which one... it was mentioned that Derris Kharlan, together with the elves and Summon Spirits on it, came to Aselia ~10,000 years ago, so yeah, the time matches!

Wow... I only had this idea of making Lorelei a famous man in history and for Derris Kharlan to be connected to Auldrant a long time ago... and then suddenly this whole idea came up... and somehow I got a full recipe of how to create an Aggregate Sentience... and yeah, I know this whole chapter is complicated and full of crazy stuff, so if you are confused and just want the summary, here you go:

1. Derris Kharlan, which was called _Sehi Laptilus _then, and Auldrant were once neighbouring planets

2. A genius Fonist named Lorelei Ispania went about 'capturing' Aggregate Sentience and Summon Spirits of both planets to help with his dream to put order to the chaotic world

3. He achieved his dream and built the Kingdom of Ispania and started the dating system (the year the Kingdom of Ispania started was B.D. 1)

4. A few years later (B.D. 7) he realised that 'capturing' the Summon Spirits was a bad idea in the sense that it began to slowly destroy the two worlds and causing the people on Auldrant (mostly those in his country nearest to him) to fall ill or go crazy or both

5. Another few years later (B.D. 12) the Elemental Summon Spirits were created and situated in Derris Kharlan to slow down the destruction of both planets

6. Lorelei found a way to stop the people in Auldrant from falling ill or going crazy through the creation of the Seventh Fonon with the help of the Aggregate Sentience and Summon Spirits he 'captured'

7. He mixed the his Fonons, which mostly consisted of the Fonon of Fire, Light and Shadow, and mana together to get the Seventh Fonon, the Fonon of Sound, and became the Aggregate Sentience of the Seventh Fonon in the process

8. He then went on to make the Seventh Fonon 'an official energy' of Auldrant so that the already ill and going crazy people could get 'cured' by adding a new and outer layer to the Fon Belt, and entering the core of the planet himself

9. He 'broke' the pact with the Summon Spirits and severed the link between Derris Kharlan and Auldrant

10. Derris Kharlan drifted away from Auldrant only to 'latch' onto another planet called Aselia years later (Lorelei's wife and children had to go with Derris Kharlan as no one with elven blood should remain in Auldrant)

11. **Aselia**: The elves 'descended' from Derris Kharlan onto Aselia, got rid of the demons that originally resided there using mana and planted the Giant Kharlan Tree and converted Aselia to a world that would rely on mana (see TOS2 or my other fanfic Demonic Intervention... sorry, I just had to sell my other fic to you guys XD...) to prevent repeating accidents like the one with Auldrant

12. **Aselia**: Lorelei's wife and children moved to live in Aselia to live with the humans and dwarves that were already there and after many generations, Kratos was born (the elven blood was so diluted that no one questioned Kratos' status as a human) and... the rest is history (see TOS)

13.** Auldrant: **It took a very long time for the Seventh Fonon to be 'accepted' by the planet and for it to fully 'get rid' of the mana that lingered, that's why its existence was only discovered in B.D. 2695 and people only realised that they could use Fonic Artes of a new type of Fonon after such a long time

14.** Auldrant: **The war that caused half the population of the whole Auldrant to die occurred and then Yulia showed up, formed a pact with Lorelei using the Grand Fonic Hymn, read the Score and... the rest is history (see TOA)

I think I just broke the unspoken golden rule of Tales game where Undine is the first Summon Spirit to come around and the one to explain stuff... and that Gnome is the Summon Spirit that acted the most childish... and it may seem that I am going a bit off tracked from the main storyline with this whole Derris Kharlan and Auldrant were once connected thing, but I swear that this isn't something like a filler arc and it's all for a good cause. I hope you like my idea, though you may only see how it's connected to the main storyline much later on...

And yeah... I just wrote an omake that only consisted of OCs (if you consider the mortal counterpart of Lorelei and Derris Kharlan to not be OCs, then just one OC)...

_Uploaded on 1 March 2013. Edited on 29 May 2013._


	25. The Downside of Multitasking

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking; __C__haracter remembering a past conversation_; _**Character remembering a past passage they read**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 24: The Downside of Multitasking**

Noir watched as the man standing a few meters before her started gathering fonons from the surroundings. Noir was never what one would call a Fonist, but she had had enough dealings with them – mostly one-sided where she and her henchmen stole valuables from them – and could feel the gathering of fonons. She also came to the conclusion that if amateurs like her could feel the vibration in air, scratch that, _see_ shiny particles, which she suspected were fonons, floating around the man before her, then this Fonic Arte, if it could still be called one, would be very powerful.

Just as her musings came to an end, a large magic circle, about twice the size of the normal ones she saw when those she stole from tried to stop or capture or incapacitate or even _kill_ her by throwing various Fonic Artes at her, appeared underneath the man's feet.

She saw out of the corner of her eye that her most loyal henchmen, Urushi and York, the first two men she saved when escaping from the tsunami that destroyed the Isle of Feres nearly eight years ago, started fidgeting nervously. Noir licked her dry lips and smirked, she could't really blame them for being nervous at the power display, even she was shivering from anticipation, it had been so long since she last saw anyone using such a powerful Arte, and not at her to boot!

Brown light began enveloping the sword the man was holding horizontally in front of him and the intensity of the light continued to build as the man prepared for the Arte. Just before the light became so bright that Noir would have to close her eyes to avoid being blinded by it, the man stretched out his right arm and pointed the tip of the light enveloped sword forward.

"Titan Roar!" He shouted and the light that was just now dancing around his sword started racing across the rocky terrain spreading over the ground before them. The light sipped into the ground and the moment all the light was 'absorbed', the ground started shaking. Noir, together with Urushi, York, and at least two hundred refugees from different cities all over Auldrant, gasped as they saw the ground itself started lowering.

In another few minutes, in front of them was a u-shaped valley where settlements that would have allowed not only two hundred, but two thousand people, to easily fit into. A valley that, combined with its location, would be the most secured place on Auldrant for them to live in without worrying about being detected by other nations, and in the unlikely notation that they were detected and one of the nations had the gall to attack them, would be the easiest place to defend.

The first thought that crossed Noir's mind as the man sheathed his sword was "oh my gosh! That was the craziest thing I have ever seen!", and the second was to quickly close the distance between them and hug and kiss the hell out of him, but she didn't, for she was professional and she needed to maintain the image of a calm and level headed leader in front of her followers, so she whistled instead and at the same time broke the tense atmosphere that she never noticed fell over them.

"You are right, that was way better than a few explosives." She said as calm and cool as she could manage. However, the moment she finished her comment, all hell broke loose.

"What!? Ma'am, are you kidding? I doubt even thousands of explosives could have done something like that!" York exclaimed.

"That was one hell of a spell..." Urushi said as he stared at the newly made valley.

She could also hear murmuring and shouting and cheering from the people behind her, all of them amazed and shocked at what they just witnessed. Ignoring the others, Noir walked forward and stood next to the man that just casted that gigantic Arte and heard him sigh. She understood where it came from, heck, even she was starting to get a headache from all the amazed 'ohhs' and 'ahhs' and the worship like stares and comments that would no doubt come at him later.

She almost regretted winning the argument with him when he said he didn't want anyone to witness what he was going to do. Well, keyword being almost, she couldn't really say she regretted seeing such a power display, and it was their right to know how their future home came to be.

"So you gonna tell me how you managed to do that?" Noir turned towards the man and blinked seductively as she asked the question. She knew what the answer would be, but she just couldn't help but feel curious about this Arte that she was sure he couldn't do the last time they saw each other and pulled so effortlessly just after two weeks.

"Trade secret." The man carelessly shrugged.

"You are no fun." Noir pouted but decided to leave it at that, everybody had secrets, even she herself got some, and no matter how curious she was, she wasn't going to trade her own secrets for others'.

Without another word, the man started walking away. "So you really aren't staying? You could be our new leader after all you have done for us." Noir called after the retreating man.

The man paused his steps and turned around. "I haven't done anything except conjuring the energy required for the Arte, the real work starts from here and I am sure you can handle it just fine." Then as an afterthought, he added, "I am not leader material and this is all just business anyway."

Noir rolled her eyes at the other's words. "Right, just business, then I am glad doing business with you, Kratos Aurion."

Kratos smiled slightly and nodded before continuing his retreat from Noir and the residents of the future town that would be built in the newly made valley.

"Not leader material my ass, and what business it is with you refusing anything we attempted to give you?" Noir muttered under her breath as Kratos disappeared from her line of sight, the others too caught up at the moment of awe to notice that the man that just saved them from having to continue drifting across the world without a stable home walking away.

She turned to look at the people, _her people_, that were happily chatting with each other, all excited at the prospect of finally having a place to call home.

_Right, still a lot of work to do. I am sure it would take years before our new home is complete, but I doubt anyone would want to start today._ There was a playful glint in her eyes as she joined the others. She announced happily that they would celebrate and party like crazy today before starting to work tomorrow and she smiled genuinely for the first time in years as the cheering became even louder at her announcement.

* * *

"So this is the new Derris Kharlan... it is just like what you described, a lifeless planet, with equally lifeless beings in it except for the monsters in the lower levels." Gnome said as he floated alongside Kratos. The man was walking along the silent corridors to the control room in the angelic city with occasionally an angel or two brushing past them with the robotic greetings of 'Lord Kratos'.

Gnome glanced at Kratos, his new Summoner, seeing as the pact bracelet was in his possession and he had the blood of Lorelei, his previous Summoner, well, not really previous in the sense that their pact was annulled or anything like that as Lorelei wasn't dead yet and he hadn't done anything to break the pact between them. That's also the reason why Kratos didn't have to gain the Aggregate Sentience's acknowledge to be able to use his power, he could do that just because he had the pact bracelet and was Lorelei's descendant.

He didn't know what to think of the young man, well, two thousand years old, at least according to his calendar system, was still young in Gnome's dictionary. Kratos had told him about the organization called Cruxis and how it came to be, the splitting of Aselia to preserve its depleting mana and the events leading to the reuniting of the worlds, the plantation of the new World Tree and the departure of Derris Kharlan, his arrival at Auldrant, what he had learned while here and how he came into possession of the pact bracelet. He doubted Kratos had told him everything, but that was to be expected.

"Lord Kratos, you can find the result of the calculations you asked to be performed in Terminal C." One of the angels standing next to a large white door said.

Kratos nodded and, without even sparing a glance towards the angel, entered the control room and immediately sat down in front of one of the computers and started typing.

Seeing that Kratos was busy at the moment and was unlikely to pay any attention to him right now, Gnome decided to use the time to examine the room and the machines in it. He never thought that mana could be used for so many things apart from sustaining lives. Back in the days, people, or just elves, only actively used mana to power their magic, and now they had this thing called magitechnology in which mana was used to power many different gadgets and machines, though there was the downside of having the risk of severely depleting mana if what Kratos said about the Kharlan War was true.

It wasn't just magitechnology, from what Kratos had told him, even people on Auldrant had advanced much in the field of Fontech. Gnome had known he would be put into a long slumber all those years ago, but that still didn't prepare him for the advancement of technology of either planets.

He heard a sigh coming from Kratos and floated back next to him and tried to make sense of the numbers and letters displayed on the screen in front of him. "What is the result?" Gnome finally asked, knowing that Kratos would just remain silent unless he started asking questions.

"There was a slight decrease in mana and increase in Seventh Fonon. It seems the angels monitoring the mana level didn't suspect anything due to the changes being too small." He pointed at a set of numbers that was highlighted in yellow on the screen. "In fact, if I wasn't informed of Lorelei's plan, I would have thought the increase of Seventh Fonon was because of the closeness between Derris Kharlan and the Fon Belt and not because of the mana being converted to it."

Even though Gnome wasn't sure what the numbers represented, judging from Kratos' answer, he could vaguely guess that the numbers were about the level of Seventh Fonon in this planet, he saw another set of numbers highlighted in red that had a similar value to it and guessed that the ones highlighted in red was the mana that was lost.

"If this calculation is correct, it would take another three thou- one thousand and four hundred fifty two years for all the mana in Derris Kharlan to be converted to Seventh Fonon." Kratos said.

"There is still a long time then." Gnome said.

Kratos shook his head. "This calculation is just for the planet and not the ones living in it, I also doubt the conversion will be linear. If it's exponential, we didn't have much time left."

Gnome tilted his head to the left. "Exponential?"

"The conversion becomes faster and faster as time goes on." Kratos explained.

"What about yourself and the angels?"

Kratos closed his eyes, as if thinking of how to answer. "I am not sure how the conversion will affects angel, you said before that Lorelei didn't want to know what would happen if the elves were to get caught up in his plan... and angels were beings that relied on mana even more than elves. Though if you omit the Cruxis Crystal, angels were simply half elves, with the exception of me. However, I have no idea what this conversion will do to the Cruxis Crystal, seeing as the crystal was made using living beings that was based on mana..." Kratos trailed off.

Gnome looked at his human companion furrowing his brows, as if suddenly realizing something very important, which, given the nature of their conversation, he wouldn't put it past Kratos to just make another astounding discovery and waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts and maybe share them with him if he felt like it.

He didn't have to wait long when Kratos opened his mouth about a minute later. "Cruxis Crystal is like an amplifier that boosts mana, so maybe it can also boost fonons, but at the same time, it's also crystallized mana, so the very nature of it may also be converted. If what you said about mana in objects being converted faster than that in living beings is true, then Cruxis Crystal would be the first to become something purely made of Seventh Fonon." He paused, and closed his eyes tightly as if remembering something horrible. "But... if that's the case..."

Catching on where this was going from the information Kratos had given him a few days ago, Gnome decided to finish the sentence for Kratos. "It would be like a forced removal of the Curxis Crystal from the hosts' bodies."

Kratos let out a shaky breath. "There isn't enough material to even make a Ruin Crest for a single angel." He seemed to think about what he just said for a moment before shaking his head. "Even if we had the material, I don't have the skill to make it."

Silence fell between the duo while the two thought of the implication of Kratos' most recent discovery, the only sound in the room was the continuous beeping and humming from the machines. After a while, Kratos stood up and walked to the entrance of the room. The automatic door slid open revealing that the angels were still standing in the same position and posture, except for the flapping of their wings, as when they first saw them.

"Prepare the scanning machines that was used to monitor the status of Cruxis Crystal on its host body in room four five one through to room four double five, and I want angels of rank A lining up outside the rooms according to their ID number. Find another fifteen angels to stay in the aforementioned rooms, three in each room, to wait for further orders." Kratos ordered the angel on his right, to which she replied with a monotonous 'yes, Lord Kratos' before flying away.

He turned to the other angel. "Draw up a profile chart for every angels in Derris Kharlan using Terminal F, save the template into Terminal E and set up a link between Terminal F and the computers in room four five one through to four double five."

"Yes, Lord Kratos." The angel said with their signature monotonous voice and flew into the control room, sat down before one of the computers and started typing.

Gnome looked at his companion curiously before Kratos, who was still staring at the retreating back of the first angel, said. "I refuse to do nothing and wait for something as... disastrous as _that_ happens, the least I could do is find out how long I have left to find a countermeasure for it."

_I still don't know what to think of this young man, but just for a moment, I feel as if I was back to all those years ago and was working with you, Lorelei._ Gnome smiled as he recalled a similar declaration made by a certain Summoner a little over four thousand and five hundred years ago.

Kratos turned around and Gnome saw the fierce determination in the auburn haired angel's eyes. "I once said I will create a better future for the people on Auldrant, but even before that, I had committed myself to the people on Derris Kharlan and I will not let any harm befall them. If and when the time comes that I require power to accomplish such deeds, will you lend me your power?"

_Although I did lend him power when he created the valley for those homeless people, it was because I wanted to help too. He isn't a Summoner, even with Lorelei's blood and all that, but then the condition for a person to be able to summon Aggregate Sentiences is never as harsh as the Summon Spirits. _Gnome then recalled one of the last sentences his previous pact maker said.

"_That will be my last job for all of you, and after we completed the plan, you are free to decide if you want to annul the pact or keep it, though I don't see the point of you wanting to keep the pact seeing as I won't be around anymore, at least not as a human being."_

_But then I never annulled the pact between us. I still have the choice to keep the pact intact with those that laid claim to the pact bracelet and has Lorelei's blood or annul it. _Gnome hold his gaze with Kratos and replied with a smile.

"Gladly."

* * *

It had taken him nearly three weeks, but Kratos finally got the status of all the angels, including himself, down onto the profile chart. The magitechnology in Welgaia was advanced even when compared to Auldrant, but not _that _advanced and Kratos still need to have another machine compute and analyze the near-gibberish that came out of the scanning machine and was entered into the profile chart.

Granted, he already had another machine running alongside to compute and analyze the data as he was completing the profile chart, he still have to wait for another two weeks before the analysis was done. Well, if Yuan was here he could manually speed up the process but Kratos wasn't Yuan, nor was he anywhere near as good as him when it came to magitechnology, so the only thing for him to do now was wait.

Technically, that wasn't really the only thing he could do right now, but he had been working non-stop – he could have asked some of the angels to do the work for him and took some rest in between, but this was too important for any mistake to take place so he had to oversee the whole procedure, and Gnome had disappeared the second day of the scanning process, not that he could be of any help anyway – the past three weeks, five weeks if the counting started from the time he left for Akuzeriuth, and decided to rest in his room for a while.

When he entered his room, he saw piles of paper sitting on his desk and inwardly groaned. _I. Don't. Need. This. Now!_

Just then, the door to his room opened and an angel carrying another pile of paper flew in and placed the pile neatly on the desk next to the other piles of paper.

"Wait." He called out as the angel began leaving and halted his retreat.

He pointed to the piles of paper on his desks. "Take these to Yuan's room instead."

The angel nodded and tried stacking all the piles of paper onto his arms and failed, resulting in pieces of paper falling down scattering onto the floor and Kratos had to resist the urge to facepalm. "Forget my order just now and find someone to clean the mess later." He nearly growled.

After the angel left, Kratos sighed. _We have told Mithos time and again that automated angels following orders word to word and stick to default settings when not knowing what to do will lead to many problems, we even showed him proof, but he NEVER listened._

He shook his head to clear his thoughts on his diseased student and began to leave the room. He paused as he neared the door, turned back, walked to his wardrobe and took some clothings, then walked to his desk and looked at the top pages of the piles of paper. Finally finding what he was looking for, he grabbed the first few sheets from one of the piles and left the room.

Kratos drew out his wings and flew to another part of the city and landed on a large warp circle. Mana started flowing the moment his feet touched the ground and he started calling the mana required to activate the warp. He felt the distortion of space surrounding him and the familiar tug on his mana as he disappeared from Welgaia as his physical body was thrust into the distorted space and reappeared in Vinheim, the castle of Mithos.

He looked up and around and saw angels patrolling the castle as usual and walked towards Mithos' bedroom. He ignored the slight ache in his heart as he neared his destination. He halted his step once he opened the door and took in the room before him.

_I need to rest, not drown in guilt. _He furrowed his brow as he reminded himself of the reason he came here. He placed the sheets onto the bed and walked into the bathroom to have a long awaited hot shower.

Since he forgot to tell the angels where to put the analyzed data, the default was for the angels to take the data to the person that ordered it, which meant his room in this case. And once all the space on his desk was filled, the angel would take the data to the person with the next highest, or equal, authority, which meant Yuan's room in this case, then Remial's room and Pronyma's room and so on and so forth.

He knew there was a lot of data and didn't want to even start thinking how many rooms would be filled with paper after all the analysis was finished nor did he want to guess which room would be spared. Thus, he came to the room that the angels would definitely not take the data to: Mithos' room.

He inwardly groaned again at the thought of going through all the data after he finished his rest. Paperwork was never his forte and he desperately hoped Yuan was here to do the job... sure, he had looked at documents and did some analysis here and there, but it was never so much and even though he could ask some angels to look at the data for him and wrote a summary report, he doubted the report would be short.

Walking out of the shower after less than five minutes, he put on the clothes he grabbed from his wardrobe and started reading the first sheet of paper he took from his room while sitting on the bed.

It was his own profile he was looking at and although he doubted his condition would be similar to the other angels seeing as 1. he was a seraph and thus had a slightly different Cruxis Crystal, 2. he was originally a human and not a half elf, 3. he had a Ruin Crest, though he didn't know if that would amount to any difference, 4. he already had Seventh Fonon forcefully injected into his body and can be considered a full-fledged Seventh Fonist, and 5. he had spent more time in Auldrant than Derris Kharlan in the past few years, again, he wasn't sure if that would amount to any difference, but still...

He flipped through the pages and memorized some of the key points as he did so, he wouldn't know how different the data of his status was compared to, say, ten years ago, as they never did any regular monitoring on the stable angels, only the experimental ones... it would seem a bit too late to start monitoring the changes in the Cruxis Crystal _after _the conversion had already started five years ago, but it was still better to be late than never.

Apart from the basic scanning of the status of the Curxis Crystal of each and every angels in Derris Kharlan, he also selected fifty angels, twenty five females and twenty five males, to do a scan every ten days so as to monitor any changes that might occur to their Cruxis Crystals. He also did the regular scan for himself seeing as he was the only one of his rank.

He had already given the order and set up everything for those angels to keep up their regular scans even during his absence, but he still had to be the one to read through all the data... he couldn't keep up with the regular scan himself seeing as he wouldn't be able to stay in Derris Kharlan for an extended period of time, not to mention that he wasn't in any mortal danger like the other angels so there would be no point to add the unnecessary work to his already overflowing work...

_Speaking of overflowing work, I can't help but feel that there's something I forgot to do... _Kratos put down the paper and started massaging his temples with his thumb and middle finger as he felt an impending headache that came from not resting for nearly five weeks straight. Even though he was a seraph, there was a limit to how much he could handle without any rest.

He placed the paper onto the desk and turned to bed as he resigned to the fact that he would be useless and couldn't get anything done unless he got some proper rest.

* * *

Five weeks, he was gone five weeks, not even forty days and Kratos was amazed at the things that could and had happened in just five weeks and once again inwardly cursed at his own stupidity for forgetting such an important thing.

He had originally wanted to help Noir and her people build their new home but in the end refused due to all this mess about mana and Seventh Fonon and later Cruxis Crystal. He still wanted to help them and had told himself that he would visit and see how things were going and see if there's anything he could help when he had the time. So that was the least of his problems.

He was to train with Dist three weeks ago and in his fear for the residents in Derris Kharlan, he had forgotten to even send a message to let him know he wouldn't be able to come. Now that wasn't really a problem as Dist would just rant and rant for maybe a week or so and wouldn't be able to keep staying angry at him for long for obvious reasons.

He promised to help Cantabile take Ion to Keterburg – not Chesedonia, as Ion's parents lived there and Cantabile was still thinking up ways to slowly break the news of his parent's death to him without upsetting him too much – secretly two weeks ago as the little would-be Fon Master was dying to take a breather out of Daath and wanted to know what snow looked like when Cantabile first described it to him. That wasn't the main problem either as he knew Cantabile would understand he had more pressing matters when even Evenos couldn't contact him.

He had told Evenos he would let him know if something big happened and, well, something _big_ did happen and he didn't told Evenos – he didn't even know until the day before yesterday – but then there's still Dist to report to him so that was fine too.

The main problem, the biggest and stupidest mistake Kratos had ever made since he came to Auldrant, was at the moment sitting in front of him.

As he stared without really looking at the one before him who was literally _inhaling_ the food in front of him as if he hadn't eaten in a long time, which Kratos think might be the truth in this case, he had mixed feelings. The feeling was similar to when he first found out that his son was alive after thinking he was dead for fourteen years then immediately came to the horrible conclusion that he couldn't tell him he was his father and had to lie to and betray him just to let him _live_.

He was brushing his teeth after he woke up from his nap – not really nap, seeing as he had _slept _for six hours straight, a very strange thing considering he was an angel and all – when he finally remembered what he had oh-so-conveniently forgotten in the past five weeks.

After giving some orders to the angel on what to do in his absence, he hurried back to his small apartment in Daath – after many trials and errors, he had set the warping point between Derris Kharlan and Auldrant to be somewhere in the forest near Daath – and checked to see if he had any messages.

It were the messages from Dist that reminded him of the missed training session; the ones from Cantabile that reminded him of the secret trip to Keterburg, which Cantaible and her boyfriend, Marcel, had still taken Ion to with the help of Dist, who had used his authority as the Commander of the Second Division to somehow secretly set up a distraction of sorts for them to escape; the ones from Evenos that told him something had happened.

But it were Dist's fourteenth and fifteenth messages – the first thirteen messages being ones that asked of his whereabouts and _demanded_ him to apologize to him for never showing up among other ridiculous things – that had his attention – he would have overlooked those messages as Dist's usual ones too if not for Evenos' message telling him something had happened.

The message was simple and was encrypted – give it to Dist to encrypt a message to look like his usual annoying and ridiculous messages. It didn't take that long for Kratos to decrypt it as the key to the encryption was in Cantabile's message.

It was a protocol they decided, if something happened and they couldn't verbally pass the message to the others, they would send an encrypted message. Dist was the one tasked with the encryption seeing as he was the mathematician here. The key to decrypt the message would be sent separately by a different person and the message that something was up would be sent by another person.

For example, if it's something they needed to let Cantabile know and she was out doing other missions, Dist would pass the encrypted message to Evenos – it would look weird for Dist to directly send a message to Cantabile considering their positions and supposed relation in the Order – and pass the encryption key to Marcel, who joined them half an year ago, just before he and Cantabile became lovers, and the two of them would send the messages to Cantabile separately.

The decrypted message was also very simple, and to the poin-

The child sitting before Kratos finally finished his food and placed the bowl onto the wooden table with a small thud, snapping Kratos out of his thoughts.

"Thank you Kratos, you are such a lifesaver." The boy said with a twisted smile that Kratos was sure would look much better if it wasn't for his fatigue and his mind being occupied by other depressing thoughts. Thoughts about a certain teacher that betrayed him recently.

Not knowing what to say, Kratos only nodded calmly at the boy before him, though his mind was anything but calm as he inwardly cursed at himself for the thousandth time or so since he read Dist's messages.

_**Luke, replica, Coral Castle**_, which was sent fourteen days ago, and _**replica already home, original escaped, going home**_, which was sent three days ago.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

No omake for this chapter, as author was being lazy and didn't want to put off uploading this chapter anymore... nothing much to say here... being lazy again... so see you next time~

_Uploaded on 3 April 2013. Edited on 29 May 2013._


	26. The Art of Spying

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

* * *

**Chapter 25: The Art of Spying**

Dist was holding a spyglass as he watched Kratos slashed the salamander that foolishly jumped towards him into two. He was in midair and miles away from Kratos and Luke. He saw Kratos turning around to see if Luke required any assistance. Kratos didn't move from his spot telling Dist that the Fabre kid was doing fine on his own. He turned his head slightly to the right and sought out the other red headed, but much smaller, figure kicking upwards and launched his left foot onto the belly of the salamander that was holding him to the ground. The force of the kick sent the beast flying across the sky landing several meters from him.

_Seems everything is under contro__l. _Dist thought as he took note of the ten or so salamanders that were still standing compared to the twenty plus that were lying on the desert sand, either unconscious or dead.

He wasn't sure if it was normal for desert salamanders to group themselves into dozens and attack clueless passerby... the only other time he had seen so many monsters attacking at the same time was when Kratos escorted him to Belkend all those years ago, but then they already discovered the cause and solved the problem.

He knew that Kratos had completely shaken off the effect the Fon Slot Seal had on him years ago and was fine with controlling the Fonons in his body and knew how to use just the required amount of Fonons for the Fonic Artes he wanted to cast and not waste more. If he didn't know, he would have thought Kratos had been a Fonist his whole life with such a fine Fonon control.

Yes, he knew that Kratos wasn't a natural Fonist, and that was not just because of the healing power he displayed before he was injected with Seventh Fonon. He had told Kratos that the Fon Slot Seal was only supposed to close certain Fon Slots on his body that was leaking out wild Fonons, but there was more to the story as part of Kratos' energy was also ripped off and sealed into it. He wasn't lying about what the seal did, but it's just a prototype and there's also the matter that the materials required for the real deal was too expensive for him to afford and things just gone a bit haywire when he used it.

He didn't invent the original Fon Slot Seal, he only wanted to find a way to reduce the cost and see if he could reproduce one with his own method. So the end result was that the one he used on Kratos was just a cheap imitation, but still very effective mind you, with some modifications and it did more than just closing up specific Fon Slots on the subject's body.

It had taken him nearly four years – he was doing all this _alongside_ his other duties, spying, trainings and experiments, otherwise it wouldn't take this long – for him to finally come to the conclusion that the energy Kratos had was most likely not even from this world as all substances in Auldrant was based on Fonon and that was clearly _not _Fonon, they didn't even look similar.

During his analysis and monitoring of the foreign energy, he also witnessed some of it changing its structure into that of the Seventh Fonon. The process was slow, at least in the beginning, and he, after working overnight for two weeks, had managed to separate the foreign energy from the Fonon of Sound. Thus saving him more time to study it. After that, he had performed several tests to it and found out several facts: separating the two energies didn't stop the conversion, but it did slow it down considerably, the speed of conversion increased as more and more of the foreign energy was changed into Seventh Fonon and the changed foreign energy showed no sign of reverting back to their original form and was very stable.

That led to some of his more silly theories about the mysterious mercenary. Those theories actually stemmed from his own musings a long time ago that the Fonon of Sound wasn't an original energy from this world and it was actually a new type of energy that was either artificial or came from another world. There had to be a reason for it to only be discovered two thousand years ago and no opposing form to it, like Shadow opposed Rem, right?

Anyway, if he was to combine that with what he found out about that mysterious energy, the first would be something like Kratos was a time traveler that came from a past when the Seventh Fonon hadn't even come to existence yet, and the other equally ridiculous theory would be that Kratos was not of this world and was actually from the same world where the Seventh Fonon, or the previous version of it, came from. Those theory would then lead to his energy started evolving as his body adapted to the new environment he was put into. That would also explain why that fonstone reacted to Kratos and somehow let Seventh Fonon flow into his body.

He didn't know if Kratos would still evade his questions if he presented all his findings and theories to him, but he had difficulty imagining how to start the conversation, it wasn't like he could just walk up to Kratos and asked him if he was a time-traveler or a being from another world... that sounded silly even in his own head...

Yeah... he knew it was silly... but the sad thing was that those terribly senseless and far-fetched theories of his, especially the one about him from another world, were sounding more and more plausible the longer he spent near the man. What with his superior eyesight, hearing and strength, eating and resting very little but could still exert a lot of energy – no matter how many times Kratos told him that it was because he had been a mercenary for a long time and that was normal for skilled soldiers, that was just not how a human body worked! He was a scientist and should know better – and last but not least, his not looking like he had aged a day since he first met him!

That last trait of Kratos irked him the most. Although he himself didn't look like he had aged much, he still saw himself becoming older when he looked at the mirror. It was so unfair that someone like Kratos who could care less about their appearance get to keep his look through the torrent of time when he, the beautiful scientist, had to face the trial of aging! He had even made it a point that if he ever got a blood sample from Kratos, the first thing he would look at wasn't that mysterious energy, but his gene, just so he could find a way to keep looking young and beautiful!

_Right, ranting aside... I still have a job to do... _Dist shook his head and tried to clear his long train of thoughts about Kratos' situation and his own beauty and focused back at the two figures fending off the foolish beasts that were trying, and failing spectacularly, to kill the red headed duo.

He was too far away and even if he was next to Kratos, he doubted he would be able to tell if there was another disturbance caused by the Fonons leaking out from Kratos...

_Or if not Kratos, maybe it was Luke? A side effect from Fomicry? But I has monitored the brat's physique closely the week after the replication and made triple sure that he is clean before I told Van he could deliberately let him escape... _

He lowered the spyglass and looked down to the ground below him where Van and Largo were standing on waiting for him to report to them if and when anything problematic happened.

The three of them – Van, Largo and him – had been following the boy since he escaped from Choral Castle five days ago. He had to applaud Luke for travelling all the way from Choral Castle to Kaitzur – Navel Port on his own with only a sword he had stolen from the Oracle Knight he knocked down when he escaped. It had taken the boy three days to get to the Navel Port.

Luke had then slipped onto the ship that was set for Chesedonia without anyone noticing when others refused to believe that he was Luke fon Fabre and beat him for having the gall to impersonate the son of Duke Fabre. For the sake of secrecy, Van and Largo decided to take the ship after the one with Luke on it. Unfortunately for them, there was only one ship going to Chesedonia per day and so Van had ordered Dist to go ahead and keep track of Luke for them.

He wasn't sure how, but when he caught up with Luke – he had been waiting at Chesedonia's port for the ship Luke was on to arrive, not behind him, but the brat was just too evasive and difficult to spot in the busy streets of Chesedonia – he was leaving Chesedonia with Kratos of all people. He was relieved that Kratos was finally here but he still had to report back to Van as their ship finally arrived at Chesedonia.

He hadn't said anything about Kratos to Van yet. The reason he didn't was because they were going to cross the desert and it was unlikely that Van would follow too closely and risk being spotted by Luke. The kid was sharp and the desert was quite an open and barren area for people not to notice you if you weren't putting enough distance between you and them. So Dist was pretty confident that he would have time to communicate with Kratos and see what he wanted to do before Van or Largo could see that there was an extra person tagging along their target.

He looked at Kratos again with the spyglass and noticed that the man was just playing with them and drawing time to wait for the kid to finish his part of the fight. If it was five years ago, he would never be able to tell if one was struggling with their opponent or just playing with them, even now he might still have some difficulties judging things like that. But it was Kratos and Dist had been training with him for five years already, even an amateur like him would be able to tell that Kratos was exerting little to no effort right now.

He took out a pen and tapped it to the earring on his left ear and waited. He saw through the spyglass that Kratos took out something that looked like an earpiece and put it in his ear after he kicked away another salamander. After three seconds he felt a tiny vibration coming from the earing signaling that the connection was made.

"Glad to know you finally decided to check your mail box." He said bitterly. He then rolled his eyes as he saw, through the spyglass, Kratos glancing over at his direction. _Typical Kratos, knowing where I am even before I saw him with a freaking spyglass several miles away. _He thought sourly as he recalled Kratos telling him sometime ago that 'he was too huge a target sitting on an overly large chair in the sky to not notice even if he was miles away and no bird has such strange colors and shape'.

"I suppose you aren't the only one tailing us." Dist heard Kratos said through the earring. It was one of Dist's invention, a gadget used for communication. Apart from him and Kratos, Cantabile and Marcel each got one. However, the gadget only worked if they were less than five miles apart from the others.

"No. The Commandant and his most loyal sidekick are here. Though they don't know of the extra company the brat has yet, thanks to me." Dist said nonchalantly.

"This isn't the time for this." Kratos said, picking up Dist's bitter mood. "What's the plan?"

Dist furrowed his brow as he had this strange feeling that something was troubling Kratos as his tone seemed a bit off. _Maybe the Fonon leakage was caused by him after all. _Dist thought as he remembered being taught a long time ago that it was possible for a person to lose their Fonon control if they were under emotional stress.

"Dist?"

"Right, sorry for spacing out." Dist saw Kratos looking in his direction again amidst all the fighting and knew his apologize just now had surprised him. _Not so much as he surprised me though. It would have to be something really nasty for Kratos to be upset in any ways._

"The Commandant deliberately let the Fabre kid escape and for us to trail after him to make sure he will arrive at his home safely... where he will see... the replica taking his place... in his life... in his family..." He trailed off, suddenly feeling unease talking about Van's plan for Luke.

He doubted he would be this troubled if it was just another random nameless person he was asked to experiment on, but this kid wasn't nameless to him, he was Luke fon Fabre, the boy that was willing to risk his life for his mother. Granted, he only encountered him once before Van kidnapped him, but that encounter had connected him to this kid through the his desire to help his mother. Because of that he had trouble performing the required task when Van asked him to replicate the boy and he had told him he wasn't feeling up to it and asked Spinoza to substitute for him.

"How many days since the experiment?" Kratos asked, snapping Dist out of his thoughts.

"Eleven days, so it is safe to assume that no side effect is going to come up." Dist replied.

"What does he want after that?"

"He wanted to recruit him into the Oracles, something to do with wanting his power if I am not wrong. Though I don't see the point in that." Dist shrugged, then remembered that Kratos couldn't see him... at least not that clearly...

"Why?" Kratos asked.

"Who in their right mind would go back to the ones that just betrayed them!" Dist growled as he thought of a certain similar circumstance – at least it was similar in his own mind – that occurred several years ago.

"Even if he asked nicely for you to go back?"

"As if-" He paused, really thought about what Kratos just asked and noticed that the question was now directed at himand not a general third party anymore_,_ before finishing his answer. "I might if it was before I found a new purpose and after I had the time to cool down and think about it." He furrowed his brow. "But my answer now is I won't."

"Luke is just a child who is prone to influence. He will also be in a very vulnerable state after he sees what Van wanted him to see. After that, it would just be a play of words and Van will have him back no problem."

"Right... so what are you going to do?"

"I will accompany him to Baticul. There is no point to cover for me all the way there, just tell Van what he needs to know."

Dist wanted to ask more, but before he could state his question, the fighting, and thus their conversation, ended. As the two red heads resumed their trekking through the desert, Dist thought about what to say and what not to say when he suddenly frowned as he remembered coming to the conclusion that something was upsetting Kratos and had totally forgotten about it when he started talking about Luke. He made a mental note to ask him about it the next time they talked.

He was in front of the other two a moment later and saw that Van was waiting for him to start reporting. "Seems the brat found someone who is willing to travel with him to Baticul or at least part of the trip. They were just getting rid of a group of salamanders together." Dist said with an air of unimportance as if the appearance of that someone was nothing noteworthy, nor was the fighting of any interest.

"How well did the boy fight?" Largo asked.

"You seriously think I can answer that question with anything except that they won in the end after a very long and boring fight?" Dist deadpanned at Largo as if he just asked the most ridiculous question in the world. "Though I guess I can tell you that the man killed more salamanders than the brat." He added as an afterthought.

Since Dist never fought in front of either of them, they only knew about some of Dist's techniques through gossips. But nearly most, if not all of the gossips were about how Dist just had the scythe to show off and his main weapon was his brain and not his muscle. Which was quite true as most of the time the others in the Order saw him 'fight', he just sent out his robots to do the job for him. There's also the fact that the one who started the gossip was Cantabile and they had decided a long time ago it wouldn't do for Van to know how well – not really, but you get the idea – he could really fight.

The reason they came to this decision and the reason Dist agreed to not _show off _his skills in front of the others was that as far as Van was concerned, Dist was devoting almost all his time working on Fomicry and other Fontech related projects and it would be bad if they gave him any reason to think otherwise. Not to mention there would come the inevitable question of who the one that trained Dist was, seeing as he had outright refused to join any of the trainings offered to all Oracle Knights.

So, to Van and Largo and almost all the others in the Order of Lorelei, Dist was anything but a fighter and the reason he became the Commander of the Second Division was because of his robots that fight for him and his contribution as the most amazing researcher in the Order. He bet most of the others thought that he couldn't even swing that overly large scythe of his to save his life.

"What does that man look like?" Van asked.

"Red hair, about six feet tall if my estimation is correct, and I think he is wearing a black shirt and pants." Dist replied.

"You think?"

Dist shrugged. "It is of a deeper shade and I can't really tell the exact color. Oh, and if I ain't so sure Duke Fabre is in Baticul fussing over the replica right now, I would say that they are father and son. In fact, I think that man looks more like the brat's father than the real one."

Van narrowed his eyes at Dist's description. "What do you think the probability of that someone coming from the royal family is?"

_Oh right, most of the royal family of Kimlasca has red hair, though this isn't what I have in mind when I mentioned they look like father and son. _"Fifty percent?" Dist replied with a tone of uncertainty.

Noticing the look on Largo, Dist rolled his eyes. "We are miles away from them, do you think a normal spyglass could cover such a long distance?" He snorted and turned to Van. "Isn't that the reason you asked, no, _ordered_ me to fly up there to get a better view? I could only see two red headed figures, one tall and one short, with similar messy hairstyle, fighting against some salamanders and winning, so yeah, they look like father and son, or brothers, or cousins, or just complete strangers having a faithful encounter, your pick."

A standard Dist-like reply. The only problem with that reply was that his spyglass was anything but normal and could see much farther than a normal one, but Van and Largo didn't need to know about that. He had learned in the past years acting as a spy that the easiest way to lie was to tell half truth and not outright lie about something.

"Then why are you so sure he's male?" Largo asked.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? I said I _think _he is wearing a black shirt and _pants_. It means I _think _he is male, mainly because he is wearing pants." Dist's eyebrow twitched as he answered irritatingly, though he was inwardly having a slight panic attack and was mentally patting his back for his nice safe. _I really need to be more careful choosing which words to say... especially now that I am not just a double agent..._

Yes, he wasn't just a double agent now, he was 'promoted' to a triple agent recently. It happened about two months earlier, when Mohs made a sudden visit and disrupted his work...

**** Four Months Ago ****

"What is it? Can't you see I am busy at the moment?" Dist sneered and glared at Mohs who had just strolled into his workshop without even knocking the door, as if he owned the place... which was practically true... but Dist decided to ignore that detail.

"Is that any way to address your superior?"

"My apologies, Grand Maestro. What can I do for you?" Dist said with gritted teethas he resisted the strong urge to add the words 'o high and mighty'.

Mohs nodded, satisfied at Dist's reply. "I have a proposal for you."

"I am in no mood to hear whatever proposal you have, especially since it seemed to be something personal." Dist made a shooing gesture with one hand. "Please leave, I want to finish this as soon as possible."

"Oh, but I assure you it's something that would interest you." Mohs smiled smugly as he fished out a folder from one of the hidden pockets of his uniform – how he managed to fit a whole folder into that hidden pocket of his was a mystery to Dist, who made a mental note to find out if it was possible to make something like a pocket dimension using Fontech, because he was sure no one apart from him in Daath knew of the technology to enlarge and reduce the size of an object, and he hadn't shared it with anyone – and held it up so Dist could see what it was.

Dist narrowed his eyes as he noticed the emblem of Malkuth stamped onto the upper right corner of the folder Mohs was holding and knew he had no choice but to at least hear out what Mohs was going to say.

"Fine. Make it quick."

Then Mohs started a long explanation about how he know of Dist's real identity, how he had his spies stolen the replica information of Nebilim from the Malkuth Military Archive in Grand Chokmah, how he knew from his spies that Van wanted to do something to the Fabre kid and wanted someone to make sure he wasn't doing anything too different from the Score.

He also told Dist how Ion was going to die in five years – now that was something Dist didn't know beforehand – and although Van had agreed to help him create a replica of the Fon Master, he wanted Dist's word to help him in case Van suddenly decided to take back his word. He also hinted that he didn't trust Van fully, and especially since he was now the Commandant of Oracle Knights, he wanted an insider to let him know if and when Van so much as implied that he was going to betray Mohs.

* * *

"So you agreed to act as _another _double agent for Mohs." Cantabile said with a stern expression.

Dist had just finished telling Kratos, Cantabile and Marcel the conversation between him and Mohs the other day, minus the part about his real identity and that Ion was going to die in five years, and wanted to hear the others' opinion on the matter.

The reason he didn't say anything about his real identity was because currently, no one apart from Kratos, Van, Peony, Nephry, and maybe Evenos, and now Mohs, knew about that and he wanted to keep it that way. He didn't say anything about Ion was going to die because Cantabile had bonded with the little evil brat – yes, that's his nickname for their would-be Fon Master, seeing as how he was one of the first few people that was pranked by him – over the last two years and he didn't want to tell her such hurtful news.

"It wasn't as if I have any other choice. If I refuse Mohs will know something's wrong and I do have a false reputation as a vain scientist to maintain." Not to mention if Dist refused him, Mohs could just tell Malkuth the whereabout of one of their missing scientists and Dist would have to spend the next few years behind the bars.

He was nearly past the half mark of the time limit for arresting him and would truly be free in another five and a half years. Although he could always leave Daath and go to Belkend or Sheridan in the worst case scenario, he would have to leave his new friends behind...

He doubted he wouldn't be able see Kratos again even if that's the case, but there's still Cantabile, Marcel and even Ion. Although Ion did prank him before, it was never too serious and not when he's really busy – must be because of Cantabile and Reiner – and the little brat had grown on him, too. He did feel sad when Mohs told him he was going to die.

There's also Reiner, an orphan he came across a while ago and took back to the Order. Though he didn't adopt him or anything drastic like that, he did teach him basic Fontech every once in a while. He didn't think he was teacher material, in fact, just the thought of it made him shudder, but he didn't mind helping someone who showed interest in his works.

It happened when Cantabile asked him and Kratos to go to Chesedonia to check out Ion's parents and to see if they could secretly ship them to Daath to see Ion. That little request from Cantabile to lighten up the mood of the future Fon Master became a disaster when they heard in Chesedonia that Ion's parents were killed a while ago when several bandits broke into their house.

Since Cantabile's exact words were to give a surprise to Ion on his birthday, they decided to find something that could remind Ion of his parents instead and Kratos agreed. Since they have no idea what to get (all the things in Ion's house were taken either by the bandits or the authorities in Chesedonia after the owners died), they asked around for information about Ion's life before he came to Daath.

That's where Reiner came in. When they went to the nursery Ion attended, a boy who looked to be around nine strode up to Dist and asked him about his chair. Dist wasn't sitting on it at the moment but it was floating after him... he refused to part with the chair lest it be stolen, but Kratos told him not to sit on it all the time... even to the point that he threatened him at times if he sat on it for an extended period of time. Despite the boy's young age, Dist, who liked talking and showing off, launched into a very long explanation, in layman terms, about his chair.

Imagine his surprise when the boy, though not fully understanding what he had been talking about, showed his knowledge and interest in Fontech by asking Dist what some of the terms he used during his explanation meant and managed to held a very basic and simple discussion about Fontech with him. Although Dist himself knew more about Fontech and could hold a much more complex discussion about it when he was nine, he had to give the boy credit to be able to catch up with him.

The discussion stopped when Kratos and a lady came up to them and the lady, most likely Ion's teacher, pointed at the boy, introduced him as Reiner and told them that he was one of the only ones that talked to Ion as both children preferred reading to playing and had problem socializing with other children because of that.

When Dist asked why Reiner was still in the nursery seeing as he was too old to be a student here and too young to be a helper, the teacher sighed and told them that there was a policy in Chesedonia where orphans were required to work if they wanted to attend the local schools as the orphanage would only cover part of the school fee, and Reiner was lucky to be sent to the nursery to help out compared to his other not-so-lucky friends from the orphanage.

Dist didn't like the sound of that policy and judging by the teacher's tone, it seemed she also wasn't fond of this policy either. But then Chesedonia was a city of trade and unlike Kimilasca, Malkuth and Daath, the population that paid tax wasn't enough – the city looked to be very populated, but more than half of them were just traders passing by and wouldn't stay in the city for too long – to cover the school fees of all orphans.

The ruler here, Astor, was rumored to be richer than even the King of Kimlasca and the Emperor of Malkuth, but no matter how rich he was, there was just no way the wealth of one person could support the ridiculous amount of orphans in the city. Not when Chesedonia had the highest number of orphans of all the cities in Auldrant, followed by Daath, which still had less than _half _the total number of orphans here.

The reason that Chesedonia had such a high number of orphans was also the reason that the city didn't have such a stable population to pay tax. There were many people going in and out of Chesedonia everyday, and most of those people were traders that had many valuables to be targeted by bandits. The local guards and hired swords could only do so much to prevent too much people from dying and leaving their child behind as orphans to be taken into the orphanages here. There's also the local prostitutes in the city... coupled with the fact that many traders did have the spare money for those kind of activities...

He understood the need for the orphans to work to pay their own share of school fee, but it didn't mean he liked it that someone that had interest in Fontech like Reiner had to work and not put all his time in studying when he liked reading books more than physical activities. So after pulling Kratos to a corner for a quick discussion, they decided to take Reiner back to Daath and surprise Ion on his birthday by letting him know one of his only friends was going to be in the Order with him.

"True... I myself like spying, but this? I guess I will just have to tell you good luck." Cantabile shook her head and looked at Dist that said she pitied him for getting stuck to work for Mohs.

"I won't say it's a bad thing, considering how traditional Grand Maestro Mohs is when it comes to the Score. He isn't within the main plan but he is still secretly supporting the Commandant on forbidden projects like Fomicry and hyperresonance, he might cause problems later if we aren't careful with him." Marcel said, putting in his two cents about the situation at hand.

"I knew of people being double agents and people being triple agents, it was never an easy job and even if it turned out fine in the end, the process would always be anything but pretty. Be careful not to show your true colors to those you want to guard against and think carefully before each and every step you take, otherwise you might lose yourself." Kratos said.

"Lose myself?" Dist asked and not just him, even Cantabile and Marcel was curious at Kratos' choice of word.

"Sometimes, when being a double agent, or triple agent in your case, people tend to lose sight of what they truly stand for." Kratos hold up a hand and stopped Dist from protesting.

"It isn't just you I am talking about, this kind of thing happens to nearly all people, but the fact that you are living a double life made you a easier prey for it." He looked at the other two participant of the conversation briefly before continuing. "It doesn't necessarily have to be caused by one's own weakness, it may be due to the pressure that comes from their peers, family, loved ones, sometimes even their own actions. And in most of the cases, you changed, for better or worse, to adapt to the pressure. But most importantly, no matter how painful and unbearable it is, never cut off your own emotions, otherwise you break."

**** End Flashback ****

_Right... pressure from their own actions... _Dist dropped his gaze to his hands. He had felt that pressure Kratos was talking about when Van told him to make a replica out of Luke. It didn't matter he wasn't the one to push the final button, he was the one that made the machine in the first place and the one that made it possible for Van to carry out this crazy plan of his, not that he was aware of at the time, nor would he care if he had known then.

He understood why he had to do it and what it would ultimately lead to, but that didn't mean he liked it. He had this weird feeling when he knew of the plan Van had in stall for Luke and when he saw how Luke overcame all the obstacles he faced just so he could get back to his family... the family that wouldn't even recognize him as Luke fon Fabre anymore... that weird feeling had been growing stronger and stronger. He wouldn't identify it as him being sad, but it felt familiar and he could safely say that it was something he had felt a long time ago... was it before Professor Nebilim died?

Dist had thought about what Kratos said and realized that he did change into a different person when he couldn't bear the pressure anymore. The first time was when Professor Nebilim died and the second time was when Fomicry was banned.

Like what Kratos had said, he tried, _wanted_, to cut down his emotions by devoting himself to Fomicry and other Fontech related research, just so he could forget the pain and keep to his goal. And the worst thing was, even now, he could imagine what he would become – a crazy and vain scientist that would stop at nothing to achieve his goal, just like the falsified personality he was shaping for people like Van and Mohs to see – if Kratos didn't step in and help him pick up the pieces back then.

When he told Kratos he would become a spy, he didn't think it would be difficult and it wasn't really that difficult even if someone were to ask him now, except for that weird-but-not-exactly-sad feeling he occasionally had when doing some of the things. He didn't like that feeling but Kratos did say to never cut off his emotions, which he had no problem following especially after he had tried to do the exact opposite and could easily guess the consequence of that.

Now that he thought about it, when Kratos said those words, it was like he had experienced all of the things he said. Dist wasn't sure if it was possible for a single person to go through all that and still become someone as strong as Kratos. If he had, he could only say that Kratos had had a really tough life and was a very strong person. It would explain some of the wisdoms he showed them every now and then.

These – experiencing a lot of things and having wisdom beyond even a scholar his supposed age – also supported the fact that he aged differently than normal people. He could imagine a random person that Kratos hadn't encountered before coming up to him now and asked him how old he was and Kratos answered with the number twenty eight, which was what Kratos told him _five_ years ago. If Kratos did have a very long, at least longer than thirty three years, and difficult life, nothing much should have fazed him.

_But he is troubled by something right now. I wonder what that something is. _Dist made a mental note to ask Kratos about it later, he didn't know if he would be able to help, considering that it was usually the other way round...

"Judging from their pace, do you think they will reach the Oasis today?" Dist looked up from his hands and saw Largo and Van looking at the direction Luke and Kratos was in.

Dist paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before answering Van's question. "If they are doing it the safe way, which I am quite sure they are going to, they will have to set up camp in another few hours when the sun will be in the highest position and the the desert the hottest of the day. Then they will break camp and continue travelling during the night and if my calculation is correct, they will be there sometime during midnight tomorrow." Dist paused and rubbed his chin with his right hand.

"Or they might forgo camping tomorrow afternoon and arrive there early evening if they want to stay at the local inn and buy supplies." Dist finished his deduction and looked up to see two very surprised gazes directed at him, well, not _that _surprised, considering it's Van and Largo, but comparatively more surprised than they would normally show.

"What? I may like travelling by air but I didn't always have my lovely chair with me. I have studied both biology and geology before, don't you think I will know the basics about travelling in desert?" Dist huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms in front of him childishly.

Again, it wasn't necessarily the whole truth as the rules about travelling in desert was taught to him by Marcel. But he did know some of the basics and would even call it common sense when he combined the knowledge he gained from the two aforementioned subjects. He knew he had to hide some of his more amazing skills and not show them to the wrong person, but rules about travelling in desert was perfectly fine in his dictionary.

He still had to show off every once in a while, and if even this was forbidden, then how was he supposed to keep up with his _true _reputation as the most gorgeous and awesome scientist?

* * *

**~ Omake: Ion's Seventh Birthday ~**

"Happy birthday Ion!"

"Happy birthday, may you be blessed by Yulia."

"Happy birthday, hope you have a better year under the Score's guidance."

"Happy bir-"

Choruses of 'happy birthday' followed Ion everywhere he went. Today was his seventh birthday and there would be a formal dinner and huge party afterwards to celebrate his birthday tonight. People might think that it's a good thing to have so many people celebrating your birthday with you, but the newly-turned-seven-year-old boy didn't think so.

First, although it's not the first birthday Ion had that was spent in the absence of his parents, it still hurt, a lot, that his parents wouldn't be able to spend today with him.

Second, the people in Daath had been so polite and good to him that it's starting to become annoying. It's better than to be frowned upon or isolated like when he was in Chesedonia, but after all the excitement of going to a new place and meeting new people had faded and homesickness started kicking in, he realized that it was just a routine thing for people to show kindness to him due to his _position_ in the Order. True, not all of them did it out of courtesy and some still treated him as a normal child, but that's only a few.

Third, that formal dinner would be a pain in the ass as he needed to sit still on a chair, eat like a gentleman, listen to boring conversations and take part in said conversations politely while acting like he actually _wanted_ to be there. That's just plain torture. And it had to be on his birthday.

Last, he was sure the party tonight was just an excuse for most of the people here to get a crazy night and had fun with their own friends. He was sure that only the higher ups and a very few others would even bother talking to him, and the former would only do so to keep up with their appearance as one of the higher ups and needed to show 'respect' towards the future Fon Master.

The only ones he wanted to spend his birthday with were his parents, Cantabile (his unofficial kick-ass sister), Marcel (sidekick of said sister), Van (a very patient and kind person that occasionally dropped by and asked him how he's doing), Evenos (a grandfatherly figure to him), the Tatlin family (Pamela had been very kind and was like a mother to him even though she was one of those people that 'blindly' followed the rule, her husband even more of a faithful-to-a-fault follower of the Order but he's also an okay person. Pamela said she had a daughter the same age as him but was currently being taken care of by her grandfather in a different city and Ion also wanted to meet her), maybe also Tritheim (a fatherly figure to him) and Dist (the funny man that wore make-up and screeched like a girl when he pranked him and howled like a banshee after him afterwards and had given him the nickname 'evil little brat').

Ion dragged himself towards one of the classrooms where he would have history lesson with Oliver as slow as he could (he had a freaking history test today of all days!) while nodding to the people that greeted him with choruses of 'happy birthday' and maintaining the tiny polite smile that he perfected recently to hide his anxious. He had made tiny changes to his hairstyle this morning so that his bangs could cover his eyes more than they would normally.

His eyes stung when he woke up this morning and when he looked at the mirror, there's still residue of redness on them from crying too much last night when it hit him that he had been away from his parents for nearly two years and would spend another birthday without them the next day. It wouldn't do to have others noticing his distress and making another commotion that he didn't need today.

He finally came to a stop five minutes later and stood before the assigned classroom. Bracing himself, he slowly opened the door to his doom – normally he wouldn't be scared of tests and exams as he always had good results, but he had been grieving the past few days and hadn't even picked up his textbook to study at all. Once the door was fully opened, he blinked once, then twice, then thrice, at the sight before him and wondered if he had entered the wrong room. He looked up and double checked the sign on the door telling him that yes, this was the correct room, and no, th-

"Ion!" A voice called from inside the room and Ion snapped his head towards the owner of the voice.

"Wha- bu- I mean, how?" Ion sputtered as he looked at the boy who had been the closest to a friend (albeit the age difference) he had when he was in Chesedonia and wondered if he had been hallucinating due to the extreme homesickness he had been experiencing recently.

Reiner smiled sheepishly at Ion and waved at him to come sit next to him. Ion complied as he closed the door and walked towards the only other occupant of the room, all the while staring dumbfounded at him.

"I joined the Order yesterday." Reiner grinned.

"Really?" Ion asked and looked at Reiner with huge eyes as if his friend had just grown another head.

"Really. By the way," he then fished out something from the backpack that was on the chair next to him, "happy seventh birthday!" He exclaimed and handed a rectangular wrapped package to Ion.

"Thank you!" Ion replied with matching enthusiasm and examined the wrapped package. Then he thought of something and looked back up at Reiner curiously. "How did you travel from Chesedonia all the way here?"

The grin widened. "I am part of your birthday present actually."

"Really!? From who?"

"Make a guess. Hint: there are two people collaborating for this present." Reiner said mysteriously.

"Cantabile and Marcel?" That's the first two people that came to his mind.

"Yes and no."

"I would say Pamela and Oliver seeing as I am supposed to have a history lesson with Oliver now and Pamela knew I wanted someone of a similar age as me to play with... but if Cantabile is the first one... Pamela?"

"Nope."

"Fon Master Evenos."

Reiner shook his head. "He did say he would be the last person you will think of."

"... Van?" Sure, Van had been nice to him but he doubted he would give such meaningful present to him. There's also the fact that even Ion could tell that Cantabile hated Van, but Reiner did say he would be the last person he would think of... unless it's Mohs, which was a huge NO in his dictionary.

Reiner laughed lightly. "I don't even know who Van is."

"Right..." Ion felt his face began to heat up. _Oh gosh, Reiner must think I am stupid for randomly throwing people's name at him._

"Easy there birthday boy." Another voice called out from behind him and Ion turned to see his unofficial kick-ass sister standing by the doorway.

"Cantabile! Thank you for your present!"

"Happy birthday and you're welcome evil little brat."

Ion blinked at her then gasped. "You mean-" He paused when Cantabile placed a finger on her lip.

"That's a secret between the four of us." Cantabile placed a finger on her lips, a playful glint in her eyes.

Ion nodded. He always knew that there's something going on between the ones he befriended here, like how Cantabile sometimes would look at Van with sadness when she thought no one was looking, how Van acted indifferent to Cantabile even when she showed her 'hatred' towards him, how Dist was a loner that no one apart from Van and Largo would talk to but Cantabile still insisted they showed him some 'love' by pranking him lightly every once in a while and how Marcel had been looking at Cantabile weirdly and had acted hostile towards some of the men that came up to her lately.

He hated not knowing what that something was and how Cantabile still treated him like a child (which he was, but that's beside the point). But Cantabile was still the coolest sister he could ever hope to get and if she said that that's a secret, Ion was prepared to take it to his grave unless she said otherwise.

He was far from being satisfied with many things he encountered during his stay in Daath, but today was his birthday and although it started out badly, it's getting better and he knew Cantabile and his other friends would find a way to make him enjoy the day. He still wouldn't say he was looking forward to his destined future to be the Fon Master, but he had people he trusted to rely on. He knew he wasn't going to have an easy life under the Score's guidance and all that, but he had people to help him get up whenever he tripped and that's enough for him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Okaaay... I am not sure myself where Kratos' comment about being spies comes from... I am not even sure if it sounds right... for some reason I just feel like putting it there. I know this sounds random... but hey, the whole fanfic is just a random plot I came up with when I am trying to sleep at night...

Although Jade had in more than one occasions commented that Dist didn't know how to read the atmosphere, I think Dist was actually quite sensitive to others' moods, though whether he cared about what that person was feeling would be another question... he did stayed by Jade's, someone that was as hard to read as Kratos, side for fifteen or so years and I doubt he can't tell at least one mood swings Jade had throughout the years.

Before you ask, Kratos isn't in the list of people Ion wanted to spend time with because they haven't met before. Cantabile wanted Kratos to help her get Ion to Keterburg secretly, but Kratos was only supposed to make sure that no one was following them, which Dist substituted for him by acting as a distraction. So Ion actually didn't know that Dist also made contribution to his little trip to Keterburg. Dist couldn't act too friendly with Ion and couldn't be seen helping Cantabile, they weren't even supposed to know each other apart from the other's name when working in the Order.

And a big thank you to all the readers and reviewers again! By the way, I have edited the first few chapters sometime ago (when I reread it, I was amazed by the many silly mistakes I made and how poor my writing skill was and decided to make them look better) and have corrected the grammar and spelling mistakes I spotted, added and changed a few lines here and there to make the story flow more smoothly.

_Uploaded 18 April 2013._


	27. Flickering Light of Belief

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking; _Character reading

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 26: Flickering Light of Belief**

_Wha- what happened? I... I remember Master Van telling me that he was going to take me away so I don't have to die for Kimlasca like the Score said... then I refused and said I am going to change the Score with my own method... then a sharp pain in the back of my neck._

He gasped as he replayed the last scene he remembered before he lost consciousness in his head. He couldn't recall any other people in the vicinity except him and Van, the teacher he trusted wholeheartedly and loved like a second father to him.

"I see you are finally awake." Luke pried his eyes open to sought out the owner of the familiar yet not so familiar voice only to shut them again as he felt a sharp headache the moment he opened his eyes and saw light.

_Why is it this bright. What happened? Did I get kidnapped again? And who's that person? He sounded familiar. _Luke then registered that he was currently in a lying position on something very flat and a bit cold. _Maybe a metal platform or something like that. _He tried to move only to realize that he was tied to the metal platform.

Footsteps echoed in the room and Luke slowly opened his eyes again and could finally see the face of the person as he stepped towards him.

"No... why? Van sen- no, wha-" _What is the meaning of this?_ Luke thought frightfully.

"Luke, I am sorry. I want you to understand, your power is needed for the sake of this world."

"Why? I don't understand..." Luke said, desperation apparent in his voice.

"You will understand in due time. Remember that you are the chosen one and only by preventing your death as foretold by the Score could we start to change it." Van said then turned to his right. "How is the preparation?"

That was when Luke decided to look around and saw that he was lying in a large machine of some sort that had numerous cords connected to the computer-like thing an elder man was working on. _What the hell is this?_

"I am having some trouble inputting the kid's data... He is so full of Seventh Fonon and the computer is taking a hard time analyzing and reconstructing all those data. I could only either go for his human function or inborn ability in this short amount of time." The old man said.

_They are going to use this machine on me?_ Luke widened his eyes as he thought of the possibility of Van using this unknown machine on him after he heard what was said.

"Then forget the human function. We need to hurry, I heard the Duke was assuming Malkuth to be behind this and this would be one of the first places on their list to search."

_Father's coming to save me! Maybe it'll a day or even more till he reaches here, but I can't just give up! I need to stall for time!_

"What are you going to do to me? Release me! Master Van! I already told you I will find a way to change the Score by avoiding death myself." Luke shouted.

"I admire your will to change the Score on your own. Sadly the world doesn't work that way, no matter what you do, the Score will proceed accordingly and I can't have you dying on me." Van explained calmly.

"So you are going to keep me away from Kimlasca! Away from my home! My family and friends!" He was starting to see red at the prospect of the man he trusted doing _this _to him. "How dare you betray my trust!" He sneered.

"Trust is such a strong word, just one betrayal could make you this angry, pathetic. This world is full of lies, I wonder how you would feel when you find out the ugly truth of this world." Van said as he gazed at Luke coldly.

Luke glared ferociously at the man he once called Master.

"No matter, you will see sooner or later. Now!" Van shouted the last word towards the other occupants in the large room to Luke's horror..

The machine roared to live soon after and he saw light above him – maybe also next to him and below him enveloping his whole body, but he couldn't tell – a light so intense that he had to squeeze his eyes shut for fear of going blind. Even though he was shutting his eyes as tight as he could, he still saw the light from behind his eyelids as if he was directly under the sun. However, he didn't feel the warmth that was normally accompanied by that intense brightness, instead he felt something weird. He couldn't describe this feeling, it wasn't pain but it wasn't exactly comfortable either.

After that, all he could hear was his own scream and-

"Luke!"

He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was darkness. He breathed harshly and squeezed his eyes shut again as he tried his best to calm down. After his raging heartbeat slowed down considerably he felt wind caressing his exposed skin. He opened his eyes again and rubbed them with his hand to clear the blurry image. After he had gotten his focus back he saw a darkened sky with countless stars shining down at him and felt a large comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Kratos?" Luke turned his head to the side and saw Kratos kneeling next to him.

"You were thrashing around." Kratos said and withdrew his hand.

"What is the time now?" Luke asked as he sat up from the make-shift bed.

"Half an hour till dawn."

"Right." Luke started rolling up the bed. "I don't think I can sleep anymore."

Once Luke finished rolling up the bed, he turned to Kratos, who was having the second night watch of the night and wasn't going to sleep anyway, with a meaningful look. The mercenary nodded at him, letting him know he's fine with having an early start too. The two started packing without another word and once they finished, they continued their journey to Baticul.

It had been three weeks – or was it four? He couldn't tell the time when he was trapped in that small prison – since he was kidnapped and a week after he escaped from Choral Castle, his father's abandoned villa. It had been a tiring week but Luke was very determined to get back to his home. It didn't matter what Van sen- what that man told him about how he should just give up and join him as an Oracle Knight.

**** Flashback ****

"Just give up, we've already made a replacement for you." Van said coldly the moment he entered the prison and saw the boy banging against the metal bars.

Luke stopped the moment he heard the voice and stiffened when he saw the man who betrayed him. "What if you have made a copy of me? I am still me! No one can replace me!" Luke rebutted hatefully.

"Why? Didn't you yourself tell me time and again that whenever the others look at you, they only see the future King of Kimlasca and not you for you are?"

"Even if that's true, I am the one chosen to be the king! I have trained and studied all my life just for that! A fake won't be able to replace me!" Luke shouted.

"They just need someone to fill the place, it doesn't have to be you. It's no use to go back to the manor. To them, you are no longer of any use."

"Lies! It's a lie! It has to be me! I am the one that's important to them! Not some fake!"

"Believe what you will, it's only a matter of time till you can see the truth." With a last icy glance towards his student-now-prisoner, Van left the room.

_No... I will become the King of Kimlasca. I am someone who is important to Kimlasca. Everyone is waiting for me. Father, mother, Guy, Natalia, everyone, everyone... _Luke tried to calm himself down and convince himself that what Van told him was a lie as he recalled the faces of the many people that held an important spot in his heart and imagined their worried face when they realized he was kidnapped. _That's_ _why..._

Determination shone in his eyes like the light of sacred flame as he firmed his resolve to escape. _I must go back! Even if I have to fight against Van sen- that man, I will definitely go back! Back to the place where everyone is waiting. Back to the place that is truly mine! _Luke told himself firmly and for the next few days, it would become his mantra as he found ways to escape and made his way back to Baticul.

**** End Flashback ****

He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, when he escaped from the sailors that caught him slipping into the ship for a free ride to Chesedonia. But no matter how exhausted, once he recited the mantra that had kept him up for the past weeks, he got all fired up again and was ready to continue his journey after stealing some food from one of the local stores.

But his body was still very tired no matter what his mind told him and in the end he was carelessly caught by the owner of the food store. He was prepared to fight tooth and nail to get away before more people noticed the commotion and alerted the local guards. Imagine his surprise when a very familiar mercenary who he hadn't seen for two years showed up, paid the money of the food he tried to steal and got him away from the crowd.

He told Kratos about his kidnap, _again_, but left out the part about what was done to him. He didn't think telling someone that he was kidnapped just to make a copy of him and ship said copy back to his home sounded sane. He also didn't think a normal person could get over the fact that there was a machine that could replicate a person, unless, of course, that person was experimented on or was one of the researchers.

What he did tell Kratos was that Van sent someone who looked almost the same as him – not really, considering Van did call it a perfect copy – back to act as an infiltrator and that's why most people wouldn't think of him as the son of Duke Fabre, though he doubted none of his family and friends couldn't tell that it wasn't the real him. He knew – _hoped – _they already knew that the one sent back to them was a fake and they just didn't want to let too many people know about it in case the kidnapper caught wind of it and did something else to him.

He was determined to get back, even if it's on his own, and hadn't intended to ask Kratos anything about helping him out, not counting the fact that he already helped him out when he was caught stealing and later treating him to a huge breakfast in one of the restaurants. He was just betrayed by Van, someone he trusted with all his heart and looked up to, it's only normal of him to be wary of others. There wasn't any reason for Luke to suspect Kratos, since they had only encountered each other twice and Kratos had been a great help in their first encounter.

However, no matter how Kratos acted when they were together, Van was an even better actor and if someone who showed as much good traits as Van could just up and betray him, who's to say a travelling mercenary wouldn't do the same? After all, it wasn't unheard of for mercenaries to betray even their best friend just for money. But then he remembered the time when Kratos was teaching him how to fight with a sword and they had had an interesting conversation.

**** Flashback ****

Luke had just finished the set of exercise Kratos assigned to him and felt his body aching all over when his pseudo teacher finally announced a ten minute break. He lied on the desert sand and stared up at an eagle circling in the sky as he recovered his breath. Natalia was sitting on one of the large rocks nearby watching them train.

"Say, Kratos, can I ask you something?" Luke turned his head slightly to look at Kratos, who signalled him to continue.

"Why did you choose to become a mercenary? I mean, it's obvious you are not just after money after you turned down teaching me." He asked.

There was a moment of silence as Kratos pondered on the question. By the time he decided on an answer Luke had already sat up and both children were looking at him curiously.

"I first started training because my family wanted me to become a knight. When war broke out and I was stationed in the front lines, I found that it was very hard for me to view the other party as enemies and I tried sparing others' lives whenever I could. I left the military not long after and began helping people. I would have offered my help freely but I still needed money to sustain life and that not asking for money would look suspicious as most people would think twice before accepting free help, thinking that I have ulterior motives." There was a far away look on Kratos as he explained his reason.

"So your reason to become stronger was because you wanted to help people?" Natalia asked, remembering when Kratos refused her offer to ask her father to pay him.

"... yes..." Kratos answered uncertainly, which Luke noticed, but decided to ignore it.

"But if that's the case, doesn't that mean being a mercenary is just a cover?" Luke asked.

Kratos raised an eyebrow at the boy. "I guess you can say that." And Luke swore there's a glint of amusement in the not-so-mercenary's eyes when he answered.

**** End Flashback ****

He didn't know how long Van had been planning on betraying him, maybe even the whole thing about being his teacher was just part of the trap. But he didn't think Kratos was lying to him to get his trust and respect five years ago then just disappeared from his life.

Maybe if Kratos had accepted Natalia's offer of payment or his own offer to be his teacher or even showed up before him more during the last five years he might be able to argue that the mercenary had been laying traps here and there and had been lying to him since the first time they met like Van did. However, no matter how Luke looked at it he couldn't find anything that pointed to Kratos lying to him and he _wanted_ to trust the mercenary.

After coming to that conclusion, he had accepted Kratos not-so-obvious offer to help him get back to Baticul when Kratos said that he had been staying in Chesedonia long enough and was preparing to go to Baticul to do some job hunting and wouldn't mind company crossing the desert. It would have been fun, just him and Kratos travelling together, if not for the recent betrayal of one of his most trusted people haunting his every waking moment, and sometimes during his sleep, too. The other reason he couldn't enjoy this trip to its fullest was because he didn't want to make his family and friends worrying too much, and to prevent that, he needed to get back soon.

It was the fifth day since they started their journey to Baticul and third day since they departed the Oasis. They had crossed the desert just the day before and Luke almost had a content smile on his face when he noticed Baticul in the distance when Kratos announced that they needed to set up camp and rest for the day. He was disappointed that he couldn't just rush all the way back home and almost showed it but caught himself in the last moment to not scowl and direct his ire at Kratos.

Although it's still not yet dawn and Luke couldn't see Baticul from their position now, he was very beginning to feel excited and wanted to finish their remaining trip. He told himself repeatedly that today or by latest tomorrow, he would be back to Baticul, his home, and to the people that were important to him and vice versa, and that had been what's distracting him from the oh-so real nightmares he had had just now.

Luke's mood rose with the rising sun, letting him get a clearer view of his hometown. He was walking faster and faster and was about to break into a run when he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back. He turned around to look at Kratos questioningly.

"Are you sure you want to enter from the main gate?" Kratos asked.

"Of course. The guards will recognize me instantly." Luke answered, not understanding where this conversation came from.

"You do remember what you yourself said about your own situation, don't you?"

Then it occurred to him that according to his own theory, which he knew – _hoped _– was the truth, instead of having a warm welcome, the guards might think of him as his own impersonator again and called him out as a liar. There was also the possibility that Van was already there and was prepared to capture him the moment he saw him entering the city. He had no doubt that Van would have guessed his destination – the only place he could go to – when he noticed he had escaped.

Luke narrowed his eyes as he reluctantly accepted the fact that he couldn't just waltz into his _own_ hometown. "What do you suggest then?"

* * *

Once the red headed duo left the desert, tailing became easier for the three Oracle Knights as there were more obstacles like trees, bushes and uneven terrains to prevent them from being noticed. Currently they were standing on top of a cliff some distance away from the pair watching their movement. It would be another half day or so till the two reached Baticul, or that was what they thought before seeing the pair taking an abrupt turn to head towards the beach-side that laid next to Baticul instead.

Largo raised an eyebrow at what he was seeing. "They aren't heading towards Baticul?"

"Well, that's the general direction of Baticul, just not the direction where the gate is..." Dist trailed off, knowing what's going on but not seeing the need to share his thoughts with the other two.

"That direction... I see, so that's what they are going to do."

"You know where they are going, Commandant?" Largo asked.

"Yes, if my guess is correct, they are going to enter Baticul through an abandoned factory. There is a secret passage there that will lead them into the city through the cliff." Van pointed to the direction where the two were travelling in. Dist and Largo looked at where Van was pointing at and saw the aforementioned cliff surrounding the Baticul like a natural barrier.

"We won't be able to follow them there." Van said.

"Why?" Dist asked despite knowing the answer already.

Though the question was directed at Van, it was Largo that answered it. "I suppose it's because the path will be too narrow. It's also difficult to conceal one's presence in a closed off area."

Van nodded. "There are also monsters lurking there as it had been abandoned a long time ago. If we are to encounter any of them, it will give off our location."

Dist frowned. "Do you think it's because they, or at least the brat, think that we are following them?"

"No, I think they are doing this just to avoid the commotion that would break out if Luke were to enter through the main gate. It's not even a month since the replica was returned to the Duke, I doubt the guards would react well to someone else claiming to be Luke fon Fabre coming up to them. After all, we all witnessed what happened in Kaitzur." Van answered.

"Right. So are we going to enter Baticul first and wait for them inside?"

Van nodded and he and Largo started walking away. Dist remained on the top of the cliff looking at Baticul with a faraway look and sighed. "To be accused of impersonating his own self and not welcomed into his own hometown..." The second part he understood, as he was also in the same dilemma, but the first part sounded harsh to him.

There was no need for him to catch up to Van and Largo so soon and the two didn't even bother checking to see if he was following them. He could cover a much larger distance in a much shorter time and could catch up to them anytime he wanted to with his chair anyway.

What Van said about the commotion was also what Kratos told him the night before. However, that was not the only reason Kratos was taking Luke to the secret passage. Since Van hadn't see his face clearly yet Kratos wanted to keep it that way. The auburn haired man already predicted that Van wouldn't follow them in the abandoned factory. Once Kratos and Luke left the factory, they would part ways and so Van wouldn't be able to know who he was.

Dist also discussed with Kratos the possible cause of monsters jumping at them in large quantities while in the desert. The mercenary admitted that something was troubling him but also said that now wasn't the time for that. When Dist voiced his concern about the two of them being attacked by monsters while in the abandoned factory, Kratos reassured him that he would try to reign in his emotions and that he and Luke could handle the monsters if worse came to worst.

* * *

Luke thrust his fist forward, hitting a big black slime and temporarily stunning its movement. "Raging Blast!" Fonons gathered at his fist then exploded, blowing the monster away. Before the slime landed, Luke already had his sword outstretched in front of him and turned around, making a wide arc as he did so and pushed back a pink basilisk that was closing in. He quickly changed his grip on his sword and charged at the retreating reptile.

"Fang Blade!" He slashed diagonally downwards at it before jumping up with a vertical slash, taking the monster with him into the air. The basilisk dropped unceremoniously to the ground and Luke had to bit back a curse as he saw that his attack wasn't able to deal heavy damage to it. He skipped a few steps to his right the moment his feet touched the ground and stopped when he was near Kratos.

He spared a glance towards the monsters that Kratos were supposed to deal with and as expected, Kratos already finished his part of the battle. Just as he trained his gaze back towards the two he was fighting, he heard movements behind him. "Move!" Without confirming who or what was behind him, Luke followed Kratos' warning and rolled to his left. He saw Kratos also jumping to his right and the two narrowly avoided being body slammed by four large black bats.

He heard Kratos muttering under his breath but couldn't catch any of the words. "I will deal with them." Kratos called out to Luke before rushing at the newly appeared enemies with his sword at his side, ready to attack or defense at a moment's notice.

Knowing that the mercenary was much more capable than his opponents, Luke faced the basilisk and slime he was supposed to defeat again. Both monsters already recovered from his attacks and making their way towards him. The slime was moving at a much slower pace than the basilisk, which was already a few steps before him, and Luke decided to deal with the basilisk first.

He held his ground and waited for the reptile to reach him. As it neared him it raised its claw to slash at him, Luke sidestepped at the last moment and circled around it so that he was facing the midsection of the basilisk. He kicked upwards and flipped the reptile over so that it's belly was facing upwards. He raised his sword with both his hands and brought it down at the exposed belly with a heavy swing. Although his intention was to hack it into two with that swing, he wasn't physically powerful enough and his sword only went halfway through. Fortunately the reptile still bled to death due to the wound Luke inflicted to its belly.

He pulled out the sword when he saw out of the corner of his eye that the slime ejected a ball-shape thing from its body and threw it at him and held his sword before him to block the projectile. Although the hit wasn't that hard, he had been fighting non-stop for nearly half an hour and the vibration sent through the sword due to the impact was enough to make his fingers numb. He lost his grip on his weapon, letting it dropped to the ground with a loud clang. He bent down and was about to pick up the sword when he saw the world moving around him and felt the muscle throughout his entire body protesting against the movement. He lost his control of his leg and collapsed onto the ground next to his sword.

_Wha- ? This isn't just me being too tired... what's this? _Nearly using all his remaining energy, he turned his heads up so that he could see before him instead of facing the ground and saw Kratos hacking the slime into two with a powerful horizontal slash.

He wasn't sure what happened but the next moment he was lying on his back facing the ceiling of the abandoned factory. He felt Kratos pressing his hand on his left arm and saw a bluish green glow. He felt some of his fatigue going away and the world stopped moving.

He remained lying for a while longer to catch his breath. He then flexed his fingers and lightly moved his arms and legs to make sure he could use them again. Satisfied that his was once again functioning properly, he slowly sat up and looked at Kratos. "What was that?"

"You were poisoned."

Luke furrowed his brow as he tried to remember when he was poisoned. "I thought I evaded all the attacks from the basilisks."

"Apparently one got through your defense."

Luke took in their surroundings and the corpses of monsters. His gaze finally settled on the last basilisk he killed. He balled his hands into fists and glared at the dead body. "I suck at this."

Kratos' look softened at the sulking boy. "Your performance are already much better than most people your age."

Luke sighed and lowered his gaze to the ground between him and the basilisk. "Say, Kratos, once I return and expose Van's crime, will you be my teacher instead?"

"I remember telling you before that-"

"-that you are a travelling mercenary and don't want to spend too long at one place. I know, but maybe we could make some arrangement so you don't have to stay in Baticul all the time? You know, Van also only came once a week and sometimes even less due to his duties in Daath." Kratos noticed that Luke was clenching his fists tightly when he mentioned Van.

"I thought you might not want to have another swordsmanship instructor so soon." The words 'after Van's betrayal' were unsaid but Luke still caught on what Kratos was indicating.

He looked at Kratos with a look determination. "If a single betrayal is all it takes for me to stop, I wouldn't be fit to be the King of Kimlasca. And I still need to become stronger to protect my precious people."

Kratos stared at Luke with an unreadable expression. Nearly a minute passed and Luke was beginning to feel uncomfortable under the intense gaze when Kratos finally broke the eye contact and stood up. "I will think about it. Now we need to focus on getting out of here."

Luke had the most genuine smile on his face since he was kidnapped at the mercenary's words. He picked up the sword lying on the ground next to him, stood up and sheathed the sword. "How much farther till we get to the exit?"

"It is in the third room from here. We should be there in less than five minutes if there isn't any further interruption." Kratos replied and started walking once he was sure Luke was ready.

Luke followed Kratos as he inwardly cursed his luck. Ever since they left Chesedonia, monsters after monsters seemed to come out of nowhere and jumped at them all the time. The first day was the worst with nearly three dozens salamanders attacking them at the same time. Though the situation seemed to get better as they got nearer to Baticul. The frequency of encountering monsters decreased and whenever they were attacked, the number of monsters was less than before.

Then it changed when they get into the abandoned factory. It was ess than ten minutes after they entered the darkened building when they came across a large barren room where a horde of monsters appeared out of nowhere and jumped at them. Though the number of monsters was still less than before, it didn't help that they came at them waves after waves, with only less than a minute in between for him to recover from the previous fight. He was this close to getting home and those stupid monsters just had to get in the way.

_It's like those stupid monsters could tell that I am desperate to get home and had to interfere with me every chance they get. _Luke thought sourly and hoped that they could all just disappear so he could get the hell out of here as soon as possible.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts about mind reading monsters that he didn't see Kratos had stopped walking.

"We have arrived at the exit."

The words snapped the boy out of his bitter thoughts and he also stopped and looked at Kratos. He then followed Kratos' gaze and saw a cable car and behind it an open door leading outside. "Then why do we stop?"

Kratos looked upwards for a bit then turned to look at the boy following him. "We are parting ways here."

Luke blinked. "I thought you are also going to Baticul?"

"There is something I need to take care of first."

"Here?" Luke asked, incredulous at the thought of someone needing to do anything in this forsaken place.

Kratos nodded. "Take the cable car to the city. There will be guards stationed on the other end that you need to evade. My suggestion is to climb to the outside of the cable car after you get it moving. Wait for the car to glide over the cliff and jump down from it when you think it's near enough to the ground." He turned around and stared upwards again at the same spot he just looked at. "Move along the wall to get over there. I will cover you."

"Wha-" Before Luke could finish his word, a shadow jumped down from the spot Kratos had been staring at and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Luke looked at the _thing _and blinked twice. It was a slime, but unlike the ones they had encountered up till now in both size and outward appearance. It was easily twice the height of Kratos and had a neon green colored body opposed to the black colored body of the others. Although it also crawled on the ground like the others did, it had four limbs sticking out of its body.

Kratos unsheathed his sword. "I know what you are thinking, but this is on a different level than the others you have faced up till now and you are still tired from the previous fights. Follow my instruction and let me handle it."

"Bu-"

"Don't you have more important things to do? You will only be a burden if you remain." Kratos said harshly.

Luke nodded numbly despite the fact Kratos wouldn't be able to see it, a bit unsettled at the harsh words but at the same time knew that it's the truth. He started moving hesitantly to the wall, all the while keep looking back at the auburn haired man and the giant monster.

"Do you seriously think I couldn't handle it?" Kratos asked as he noticed Luke's hesitation. I will be in Green Lizard's Nest if you want to make sure I am fine after you finished your own business."

Luke felt his face heating up as he realized he just made an indirect insult at Kratos' skill and turned to focus on getting out instead. _That's right, Kratos is one of the strongest person I know, maybe even stronger than Van, there is no way he can't defeat that monster._

_It's as he said, I have more important things to do._ Van's betrayal had been haunting him since his kidnap and the nightmares he had at night left him in bitter moods in the first few hours after he woke up everyday, but travelling with Kratos helped him forget some of the pain. Though he didn't feel as bitter as when he first escaped Choral Castle and rejected by the people in Kaitzur and Chesedonia, he was still very determined to get to his goal – to get back to the place he belonged.

He kept close to the wall as he walked. It was only a few more steps and jumps and he would get to the cable car. He heard the sound of sword shuffling and splashing, which he guessed was the slimy limbs colliding with the floor, behind him. But he didn't turn back, he needed to keep focusing at his own task. He got into the cable car and pulled the lever in the middle of the small compartment down and felt the car started moving.

* * *

_I've finally come back. _He felt hope growing in him as he saw the streets of Baticul coming into his sight.

He gulped when he looked down from the open window and saw that he was several hundred meters above the river that surrounded Baticul. Just as Kratos had said, the cable car was gliding over the cliff with the wire above it being the only support. Gathering his courage, Luke carefully climbed to the outside of the cable car so he could have a better view of where it's going to. He gripped onto the door tightly to avoid falling down and looked up once he thought he was secured enough. He saw the city coming closer and closer and waited for the chance to jump down when the car would be nearest to the ground.

Luke saw his chance a few minutes later when the cable car glided near the top of a building and jumped. It's nearly a five-meter drop and he started rolling the moment his feet touched the ground to avoid being too heavily damaged from the impact. He checked himself to see if he could still move once the rolling stopped. His fingers felt numb from gripping onto the door too tight for so long and felt a bit of pain around his chest area, but it was still bearable.

He slowly got up from the ground, only to fall flat on his bottom right after. He was too exhausted and injured to start moving again so soon and reluctantly settled to taking a brief rest first.

After several minutes of lying down doing nothing except cloud watching, Luke finally deemed himself well enough to start moving again. He slowly walked over to the staircase that led to an alley on the ground and began descending. Once he got to the bottom of the six-story building, he bent down and put one of his hand on his knee and the other on the wall and started to pant. He walked out of the alley with his hand on the wall supporting him. He looked up and saw the family street of his hometown before him.

_Only a little bit more. _He thought after he finally got into the street and started running at full speed towards his home, most of his fatigue gone from the excitement of finally getting home.

Luke skidded to a stop in front of the Fabre Manor and caught his breath. His heart was thumping loudly from both the adrenaline rush and excitement of finally getting here after so long. He strolled up to the main entrance of his home and was about to get to the gate when someone held onto the fabric near the nape of his neck and hurled him back. He landed on his bottom with an 'oof' and looked up, intending to shout at the one that dared stop him from entering his home.

"This is Duke Fabre's manor! A dirty brat like you has no business here!" One of the guards, the one that threw him onto the ground, barked and stopped whatever Luke was going to say.

He gasped. "Wha-" Then stopped.

_I- it's alright, they just don't know the truth, yes, that's it, they just don't know. _He hanged onto the belief that the guards were just ignorant to the fake him inside, that his family knew the truth and just didn't want others to know. _That's it, it's just like what I told Kratos, they are doing this because they wanted to lure out the culprit and don't want me to get hurt. _

He got up from the ground and pretended to leave. Once he was out of the guards' line of sight, he changed direction and went to the back of the manor. Although he believed everything will be alright soon, he couldn't help but feel his hope wavering when his _own_ guards didn't recognize him. He then told himself that they might be new recruits that didn't know him well enough and tried his best to quell the dreadful feeling that threatened to surface.

_It's okay, if I can get back to the manor, everything will go back to normal. Right... everything will return to how it should be. Everything will be..._

* * *

**~ Omake: Reiner's First Involuntary Prank aka Stealing Dist's Revenge Journal~**

Undineday, Undine-Redecan 27, ND2010

I wanted to say nothing special, except another Fontech breakthrough of course, happened today, like how it's supposed to be usually... but something did happen. It started when Mohs defiled my lovely and magnificent workshop with his unsightly presence this afternoon. He-

Reiner frowned as he stared at the gibberish followed after the word 'He'. _Is it some kind of coding?_

He tried thinking through the various type of coding a Fon Technician might use to code his work that he knew of, which wasn't much seeing as he was not yet ten and there's only so much that he had read before in his short life. After a while, he finally gave up trying to understand the gibberish and decided to just skip this part and move on to the next sentence he could make sense of.

How dare that pig of a Grand Maestro thought he can threaten me to do anything for him! Though it might turn out to be best in the end, I swear I will take revenge against him for this when the time is right! It may be quite a long time till I can do anything, so I am making a remark here as to what I should do when the time comes. I believe that the most appropriate action to be taken will be to-

Reiner didn't get to continue reading as the book was suddenly snatched out of his hands. He looked up and saw the owner of the book glaring at him with his hands on his hips, disappointment and anger laced on his feature.

"What do you think you are doing?" Reiner flinched at the icy glare - courtesy of a certain stoic mercenary who brought a whole new meaning to the term 'death glare' - and the fury tone of the man that brought him to Daath and his pseudo teacher in Fontech whenever the man had time to spare.

"Um..." He looked down, suddenly finding a spot on the ground between the two of them interesting, and avoided the gaze of Dist. "Sorry... it was just lying on the desk... and I was curious... so I thought..." He trailed off, not knowing how to finish his poor excuse.

"You-" Dist began to give an earful to the boy that dared read his journal but was interrupted as something very fast rushed past him and stopped next to the nine year old boy.

He saw Ion grabbing onto Reiner's arm and started dragging the boy away from him. "Reiner didn't do anything wrong! Don't you go scolding him!" Ion stuck out his tongue at Dist. Just then Dist noticed that there was a very familiar book in Ion's hand and looked down to see that he was now holding onto empty air instead of his diary.

"Ion!" Reiner gasped at his friend's action. He looked to want to protest but didn't get the chance to say anything as the future Fon Master, still grabbing onto his arm, suddenly broke off into a run and got the two away from the surprised scientist.

"Why you little!" Once Dist recovered from the surprise, he started to give chase to the two little mischiefs, well, only just one of them was the prankster, but right now even the more timid boy looked like a devil in the mad scientist's eyes.

Yells of Dist, laughter of Ion and occasional stuttering of Reiner were heard throughout the corridors and halls. Mostly people just looked up, saw who's being chased, who's giving chase, shrugged, and went back to their own work. It's common for their little future Fon Master to be chased by the one he just pranked on, and it's even more common for the one that was courageous enough to give chase to their future _boss, _even going so far as to hurling insults at him, to be the resident arrogant scientist and sociopath. The only difference this time being the latest addition to the Order running with Ion. But nearly everyone already knew that the new boy was the Fon Master's friend and assumed that it's normal for the child to tag along his friend in his pranks.

Ion expertly led Reiner to one of the paths that would be too narrow for an adult to pass through and the two successfully shook off the angry man. However, when they got out from the other end of the narrow passage, they saw Cantabile standing there as if waiting for their arrival. Not that Ion was concerned about getting scolded by his partner in crime in some of his other pranks, but Reiner was thinking the complete opposite and was staring at the nineteen year old girl helplessly, not knowing what to expect now that they were caught.

"So what did you do this time?" Cantabile asked curiously.

"Here." Ion held up his hand and presented Dist's diary to Cantabile.

"I- Ion! What do you think-"

"You managed to get his diary?" Cantabile arched an eyebrow at the offered book and took it from Ion and the boys saw something akin to approval lit up in her eyes. "How? I have tried doing that before, but he was just so protective of it that I didn't even know he got one till recently."

Ion shrugged. "Not me, Reiner did, though I heard that he was just being careless and left it open on the desk."

Reiner just stared in disbelief at the two who were talking as if what he and Ion just did was like taking a leisure stroll in the garden and Ion was only describing their not very interesting walk to Cantabile. "But that's-" Reiner started as he saw Cantabile flipping through the little booklet to the page that was marked by the bookmark.

"Chill out Reiner, no need to be so uptight, it's just for fun, nothing serious is gonna happen." Ion reassured his friend with a bright smile that should not appear on someone that just got himself into trouble.

"Hmm... didn't know he has it in him." The two boys looked up at Cantabile's muttering and saw a glint of amusement in her eyes as she read the diary.

"Cantabile! What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Dist screeched from behind the three of them, finally catching up with the two, now three, evil doers.

"Reading your diary." Without turning around to look at the mad scientist, Cantabile answered as if she was stating the weather of the day.

Dist was about to open his mouth to start screaming at the girl when she suddenly turned around. He saw a playful smirk on her lips as she waved the book in front of him. "Guess what, though what you have written here is a bit too extreme, I can help you get even with Mohs with a toned down version of your idea of revenge. I can also make it so that it won't be traced back to you. You in?"

Dist blinked at the suddenness at Cantabile's proposal. Then he narrowed his eyes and Reiner swore he saw something like glee and madness washed over the scientist's expression momentarily. "I will forgive you if your plan sounds good enough."

"Deal." And the two shook hands, both with a very scary and evil smile.

"Do they often do this?" Reiner whispered to Ion, a bit scared of the look on the two adults.

"Um, no, for all I know, this is the first time they talked to each other like they are friends." Ion blinked at the sight before him, surprised at the abruptness of the change in the conversation. Though he knew they weren't really not-friends like how they tried to portrait themselves, it's still surprising to see the two of them working together towards a common goal as if they had been friends for a long time already.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Whew, I finally get to most important event in the pre-game stuff of TOA! And yes, I made it so that Kratos knew a spell similar to Meditation. It's a powered up Recover and apart from removing status abnormality, it also had healing properties like a normal First Aid.

Dist wouldn't be Dist without his revenge journal, so I decided to write an omake about that. It's always funny when he went on about putting someone in his revenge journal in the game. And for the death glare comment, I doubt anyone wouldn't be able pick that up from Kratos when they were either on the receiving end of it or had witnessed the effect of it on others from time to time over the course of five years. See how Yggdrasil got this really nasty glare in the TOS anime?

And before you ask, I am not going to write about what Dist originally had in stall for Mohs and what changes Cantabile made to it. I am only going to say that Dist's version of revenge was be a bit bloody and involved quite a lot of violence and that's why Cantabile said it's a bit extreme and that it needed to be toned down.

_Uploaded on 3 May 2013._


	28. Interwoven Lies

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 27: Interwoven Lies**

Kratos hissed at the pain caused by the acid burning on his arm. The area was too confined and the monstrous sized slime was occupying too much space in the already small area making it difficult for him to avoid getting into contact with the acid ejected from it, especially when it literally showered the _whole _area with its acid. Kratos was lucky that he could see clearly in the dark and could move faster than normal people to avoid having acid covering his whole body.

His opponent wasn't faring any better. Three of its limbs were cut off and melted into three large puddles of acid on the ground. Yes, the slime was purely made of acid and thus long ranged attack was better suited in this situation. Kratos learned it the hard way when he rushed in and cut off the limbs and only narrowly escaped being corroded to death when acid splashed at him from the severed limbs. He also tried thrusting his sword into its body and found that, once again, acid would splash at him when he withdrew his sword and the slimy substance that made up the slime would just fill the hole from the sword attack.

After that, he had used both Hell Pyre, a mid-ranged fire based attack, and Fireball at the enemy. He mentally cursed his luck when it was obvious that the slime was strong against fire as the attacks didn't do anything at all. In fact, he swore that the slime was even bigger than before his fire based attacks hit it.

_Whoever said the best type of offense against slime was slashing with a something sharp and fire elemental based attack need to reevaluate their knowledge on it._ Kratos thought as he looked down at the monster, his body hanging down from the ceiling. His uninjured arm gripping tightly on a pipeline sticking out of the ceiling, having jumped up to avoid the showering acid attack. He didn't want to draw out his mana wings nor did he want to use some of his higher level Arte that would cost him a lot of mana. He still needed to fly over the cliff between the abandoned factory and Baticul now that both cable cars were not on this side anymore and decided that it's best to conserve mana for now.

Up till now, apart from fire based attack, he had also tried wind - Lightning Blade - and light - Guardian Field - based attacks, but even though the slime didn't absorb those two elements, they didn't seem to cause much damage either. He looked around and found a spot that was free of acid and far enough from the slime on his right. He started swinging his body to his left then right and let go of his hold on the pipe when he was swinging to the right and landed on the spot he found just now.

The slime turned its face (?) at Kratos and started crawling towards his direction at snail's pace. _Hopefully it's not only weak against water or darkness. _Judging that he had enough time to cast at least a mid-level spell, Kratos began preparing for an earth based Arte. He resisted the instinct to use mana for it and began directing the newly acquired Fonon of Earth from the pact bracelet to the ground below his feet and then to where the slime was crawling.

"Grave!" Stone spikes broke out of the ground and pierced the slime in eight different directions. It struggled to get free from the stone spikes that pinned it in place.

_At least it gets smaller._ He thought with slight relief as he saw a small portion of its body seemingly melted along the stone spikes and the acid released dissolved them into nothingness before becoming another large puddle on the ground.

_I wouldn't say that earth is its weakness, but seems it's my best bet right now._ Kratos glanced at the direction in which Luke had disappeared to along with the cable car and saw the cable had stopped moving, telling him that Luke wasn't on the cable car anymore and he was free to use the attack he was thinking of just now.

He quickly cast another Grave at the slime to stall for time and began preparing a higher level Earth Arte. He held out his sword vertically with the tip pointing downwards before him and called forth a much larger quantity of Fonons than the previous one he used. Some of the energy went to his sword while the other flowed to the ground through his feet. A gigantic magic circle covered with light brown glowing runes appeared underneath his feet.

The slime had finally gotten free and was once again advancing towards Kratos. The moment it crawled to the edge to the glowing circle, Kratos raised the sword slightly before slamming it down into the ground. "Spike Cage!" Brown lights shot out of the point where the sword touches the ground in random directions and started zigzagging across the ground creating a network of webs. Once the whole magic circle was covered with the network of brown light, the ground started shaking violently. The concrete surrounding the slime rose up to form a spherical cage around it, creating a crater.

Although Kratos couldn't see the inside of the earthen cage, he knew the slime was pierced by the numerous stone spikes generated inside the cage. His enhanced hearing picked up movement from inside the cage and knew that most of the spikes were melted away and the cage wall was getting thinner. He pumped more energy into the ground through his sword and the earthquake began again and the crater below the spherical cage increased in size as more of the concrete that made up the floor of the factory flowed to the spherical cage thickening its wall.

Once he was sure all the movement inside the cage ceased, he released the spell and let the concrete that formed the cage return to its original position on the floor. As the cage began thinning and the crater below it being filled, acid began pouring down onto the ground. After a while, the floor was returned to normal, though there's still some scratches on it, and all that was left of the slime was a large pool of acid.

Suddenly feeling very tired, from all the injuries, the fightings and the after effect of casting such a high level Arte, Kratos sat down on the ground and started healing himself.

* * *

_Just a little bit more. _Luke told himself again as his right hand got to the top of the wall. He was moving so fast that when he got his body onto the top, he lost his footing and fell forward into the garden.

"Ouch." He closed his eyes and rubbed the part of his head that crashed into the grassland lightly with his hand.

"Master Luke, It's dangerous to run around!" Luke opened his eyes at the sound of his name and looked towards the source. He sat up straighter as he saw what was happening before him.

His mother was standing beside his father some distance from him, apparently hadn't noticed him yet as their focus was on a red haired boy who was running towards one of the maids. The boy crashed into the ground after a few steps and the three maids nearby and his mother rushed to the fallen boy's side while his father didn't move an inch from his place. Luke got up from the ground so he could see what was happening better. The boy clumsily sat up and started crying and his mother knelt down next to him with her arms stretching out towards him.

"Luke, are you hurt?" His _mother _asked the _fake, _who turned to her and buried himself into her embrace – the place that should belong to _him –_ and cried his heart out as he laid his head on her shoulder.

_No._

"Honestly." His father sighed and Luke, the _real_ one, snapped his head towards his father, hoping against hope that his father was about to say something about his mother having the _wrong _one in her arms. "He is just like a baby with a big body."

_Yes, that's it, there's no way they will think that- that big baby is me._

His father sighed. "To lose all of his memories up until now... what I taught him in order to be a king, the sword lessons, all gone."

His mother turned to her husband and chided him lightly. "Isn't that good enough, dear? After all Luke came back to us unharmed."

_It's just a joke, right?_ He stared dumbfounded at the scene before him as he unconsciously tightened his grip on his sword, the same one that was his only companion after he escaped from Van and before he met up with Kratos. The scene before him started blurring as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Luke, boys shouldn't cry like that."

Luke sought out the source of the voice and saw Natalia approaching from a distance. "Natalia..." _Please, look at me._

Natalia walked up and took out a flower crown from behind her. She stopped and placed the crown-

_No..._

- on the head of the _fake_.

_That's where... that's where I belong!_

Luke felt all his energy left him. His legs gave way and his knees hit heavily onto the ground. He knelt there, silently looking at the supposed scene of harmony with unfocused eyes, tears started falling from his eyes uncontrollably. His mind so broken that he failed to notice someone walking up to him from behind.

"Now you understand the truth, right, Luke? Their Selfishness... their stupidity. Even when someone just goes and replaces you, they don't even question it... they just say that you are an important person to this country, but they're all lies." Van said as he came up to the now broken boy.

"I am different. Luke, please forgive me for leaving you with such horrible memories. To me, you, and only you, are an important person. If you are not with me, I would lose all my purpose." He knelt down and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Can you come with me once again? I want to be together with you."

"I... no! You are lying... you be- betrayed me... yo- you are just the same!" Luke gasped and batted away his ex-teacher's hands. He scrambled away from Van and fell on his bottom. The scared boy clumsily got up from the ground and began to run away.

_Lies... it's all lies... my family, my friend, my whole life... all lies! They are all liars!_ These words resonated in Luke's head again and again as he clumsily climbed over the wall, eager to get away from those he thought of as family and friends.

* * *

"Are we going after him?" Largo asked as he came out from behind one of the trees.

"No. The two of you are going back to Daath. I alone will follow him."

He knew Largo was worried. Although Largo hadn't talked about his family ever since their first encounter, Van knew deep in his heart Largo would always be yearning to have the chance to be with his daughter. Because of that, he knew Largo would be worried about Luke, seeing as Luke was of a similar age as his daughter and was the fiancé of his daughter. However, Largo had decided to follow Van and even vowed to do so and Van trusted his resolve on that. No, the one he worried that would make any unnecessary action wasn't Largo, but-

"Why? I thought we were going to just grab the kid and take him back to Daath where you will persuade him?" His second companion asked.

"No, it would be meaningless if he doesn't come to me of his own accord. And it would raise question if someone were to see the two of you in Baticul." Although they didn't follow the pair to Baticul through the abandoned factory, they, meaning Largo and Dist, did enter the city through illegal means as it would be look weird for three higher ups of the Oracle Knights to enter Kimlasca's capital without any valid reason. It would be problematic if words of two of the Commanders of the Oracle Knights entering Baticul illegally were out.

"Are you sure that's the right thing to do? Won't he do something stupid in his current state?" Dist asked.

"You sound worried." Van said.

"Of course I am worried! If anything happened to him I won't be able to fully analyze the result of the replication process."

Van raised an eyebrow at that. He had heard that Dist had a soft spot for children from some of the people who liked gossips in the Order. Van was sure the whole Order knew about it already, except, of course, Dist himself. And if anyone asked Van, he would say he never saw a gossip spreading this far and fast, but he understood why. After all, it's Dist, the unapproachable and annoying-to-the-extreme crazy scientist they were talking about.

Apparently Dist had been looking after a boy he brought back from one of the missions the Fon Master gave him in Chesedonia. It wasn't so much as Dist took in the boy to adopt him as a son or anything like that, he was just occasionally helping him out here and there and sometimes gave him some of his gadgets to play with, though Dist insisted that he just wanted someone to test out his products and that it was purely experimental when asked.

That was also the reason Van didn't push when Dist asked for Spinoza to substitute for him when creating replica Luke. It wasn't like he couldn't just order Dist to do it, but he didn't feel like forcing someone, especially a scientist who could just add an additional formula in the experiments by 'mistake' to give Van some very unpleasant surprise just to spite him, unwilling to help him to do so. Although it wasn't like Dist was willingly working for him, or anyone at all, at least they still have mutual interest.

Since the man was only working for him to further his own goal, he didn't completely trust him. They were just using each other and both of them were aware of the nature of their partnership. However, this type of relationship was the most volatile and combined with Dist's personality, he would need to tread carefully around him. Fortunately Dist was a very easy to read and manipulate person and Van had learned how to be manipulative and had developed a silver tongue a long time ago.

"Give him some time to cool down. I will follow him and reveal myself when he makes up his mind to come to me. He doesn't have anyone to go to apart from me." Van replied confidently.

* * *

He should be glad. That's the first thing that came to his mind when he heard about Luke's kidnap. He should be glad that that man would be able to feel at least part of his pain when his son was kidnapped. But in reality, that's not the first thing he thought of. He cursed his own weakness when he realized that he had been scared for Luke, the son of the man that killed his family. He had told himself again and again not to get too close to the people in this mansion as he was just an avenger that would leave soon after he took his revenge, nothing more, nothing less.

Thus, his second thought, after scolding himself for a long time for becoming soft, was that he was glad, not because Luke's kidnap had hurt his father, but because it meant he could stop himself from getting too close to the boy only to lose him once again after he killed Duke Fabre. Then, his third thought was finally the one he should think of the moment he caught wind of the kidnap: happiness at Duke Fabre's misery. However, even then somewhere in the back of his mind screamed at him that it was not right to involve others in his revenge, even if he was the son of his family's murderer. But then another part of his mind would argue that just killing the man wouldn't be enough, that that man needed to feel what he had been feeling for his revenge to be complete.

That was what he thought. He had been clinging onto his beliefs, trying his best to prevent his resolve from crumbling as days went by with nothing coming up for the search of Luke. He was not supposed to feel anything for his enemy, nor the family of his enemy, he needed to stay focus to his true goal. He didn't want to lose the only thing left that defined him. He was Gailardia Galan Gardios, heir of House Gardios of Malkuth, not Guy Cecil, some servant boy of Duke Fabre dammit!

So when words of Luke being found in Choral Castle came, he wasn't sure what he was feeling. Heck, he wasn't sure what he was _supposed _to be feeling. When words of Luke on his way back to Baticul came, he thought he was feeling disgusted. Disgusted at what? At Duke Fabre for being happy? At Luke for being found? At himself for feeling relief? At himself for wishing for worse thing to happen to Luke? He had no idea what he was feeling and why.

However, when Luke, being carried by General Goldberg, finally arrived at the mansion, when Duchess Fabre and Princess Natalia eagerly reached out to the boy, when the boy looked at his two most trusted people with _fear_ and started crying into the General's chest, he felt numb. When they were told of Luke's condition when he was found, and how he was apparently traumatized by whatever horrible thing the kidnapper did to him to the point of losing all his memories, even basic human functioning, his mind became blank.

He had been trying his best to center his hatred at the Fabre family. He had trained to the bone each and everyday when no one but Pere was looking so that he could be strong enough to take his revenge. He had been pushing away both Luke and Natalia – which was much easier due to his gynophobia – whilst telling himself any bonds he formed here would just hinder his revenge. He had tried his best to cut off his other emotions as they weren't needed for his revenge. He had been telling himself that Luke was a necessary casualty in his revenge these past weeks. He had tried his best to ignore the small but irritating noise in the back of his mind telling him that this was wrong.

Yet, why was it that when he looked at Luke, none of the above came up in his mind? Why was it that when he looked at the son of his family's murderer, he could see nothing but a scared child?

The first few days after Luke returned, he had avoided going anywhere near his room, where Luke had been staying in whole day. He knew that Duchess Fabre, Princess Natalia and some of the servants had spent nearly their whole day inside that room, sitting next to Luke, talking to him and assuring him that he was safe, not that it mattered as Luke even forgot how to talk. He occasionally heard crying from the room and, though the crying would cease soon after it started, the sound of it made him sick.

On the eighth day, he finally decided that he shouldn't be afraid to face a boy four years his junior. He gathered his courage and walked up to Luke's room. He was going to knock but stopped at the last moment at the weird feeling in his stomach and decided to just take a peek inside first. He knew he was being silly, but for some reason he didn't want to face Luke right now, though Duchess Fabre and Princess Natalia being inside the room was also one of the reason he didn't want to go in. However, when he saw Luke for the first time after he came back, he couldn't keep it down anymore and rushed to the toilet and vomited.

He would never forget what he saw when he peeked inside the room. How Luke fon Fabre, the proud boy who was so sure of himself, who had been pushing himself to learn as much as he could, was crawling on the floor! Not just that, his eyes were so full of childish curiosity that Guy didn't know what to make of it. He didn't know how he would feel if he himself were to suddenly lost everything he had been working for and had to relearn everything.

He felt horrible at himself for having any ill feelings towards the boy, for thinking that _this _was what he wanted for the Fabre family. He still wanted his revenge, he doubted his own hatred and pain would leave, but he was disgusted at himself for _wanting _to involve Duke Fabre's family in it, for _justifying_ wanting to involve his family in it, for _convincing_ himself that Luke was just a necessary casualty.

He had been doing a lot of thinking since then, he even talked to Pere about his 'problems'. And when Luke was 'released' from his 'ward' on the tenth day, he greeted the boy with a small smile and together with Duchess Fabre, helped Luke practice walking in the garden by holding onto his hands.

It had been seven days after Luke first tried walking under his and Duchess Fabre's guidance. Although Luke's father had at times showed his annoyance at his son for needing to relearn everything, Guy could tell that he was actually blaming himself for Luke's kidnap, whereas his mother was just proud of Luke at his progress in walking. He remembered hearing the doctor telling Luke's parents how although he was like a baby mentally, he was still a ten year old boy physically and thus would be able to learn much faster than a newborn at least in the physical aspects.

Apart from walking, Guy also helped in teaching Luke how to talk, read and write. The process was very slow, as Luke needed to learn everything from scratch, but he was determined to help the younger boy regain the things he had lost. He didn't know what his drive in doing this was, he didn't know _why _he did it in the first place.

Sure, he had been thinking and had been talking with Pere and had come to the conclusion to leave Luke and Duchess Fabre out of his revenge, but the fact still remained that he would one day kill Duke Fabre. He also didn't want to get close to the boy for that exact reason, but at the same time he wanted to help Luke. It had been so contradicting that he didn't want to think about it anymore. Well, he _had _to think about it and sort out his emotions and thoughts, but it's so tedious and he decided to leave it for another day.

Guy looked up and immediately jumped back. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he nearly crashed into an old lady! Apparently the old lady also didn't notice him so he was saved from explaining why instead of simply sidestepping, he did a double take and had to jump back several _meters_.

He sighed tiredly and took out a piece of paper from his pocket. _Pere is right, I shouldn't think too much about it, at least not when I am on an errand. _

He looked at the list of groceries on the piece of paper and then the basket he was holding and blinked. _When did I buy all these things? Did I go into autopilot again? _It sounded ridiculously, but he had so much on his mind these days that it wasn't the first time he finished whatever tasks he was asked to do without himself _actively _taking part in it.

He shook his head and started to check if he already had everything in the list. He had been concentrating very hard to interpret the scribble on the paper – _does that mean my autopilot self is more capable than the real me? – _and didn't saw a certain red haired boy running straight towards him. He fell down when the boy rushed by and his elbow crashed into his side. He lost his grip on the basket due to the sudden hit and the contents of the basket fell off and scattered across the road. Only then did Guy register what just happened.

_Seriously, the street was not so narrow or crowded that he couldn't avoid hitting me. _He frowned and was about to turn his head to the direction where the boy had run off to to see who knocked him dow-

"Master Gailardia?" A voice inquired and Guy snapped his head to the owner of the voice.

"Van? What are you doing here?" Guy asked, surprised at the presence of his friend and ex-servant and completely forgot about the boy that just elbowed him. It was true that Van would show up in Baticul at least once a week to train Luke, but he hadn't shown up since Luke was rescued. He knew Duke Fabre told Van not to come as his son was not up to learning from Van due to his memory lost and didn't want to hold the Commandant of Oracle Knights up from performing his own duties.

Without answering the question, Van helped Guy get up from the ground and the two started picking up the scattered groceries. It was only after everything was picked up and the basket returned to Guy that Van answered his question. "I know Duke Fabre told me specifically that there's no need for me to come and continue my lesson with Luke, but I am still curious as to the condition of him and come to check it out."

Guy looked around to make sure he knew which part of the city he was in. After all, there were so many places his autopilot self would take him to. "Then why are you here? This is quite far away from the elevator that would take you to the upper part of the city."

"I was about to get to the elevator when I saw someone that looked like Luke rushing past and decided to follow."

"Huh? Why? I mean, we are in Baticul and it isn't uncommon for kids with red hair running around." Guy had automatically assumed that looking like Luke equals to kid with red hair. It wasn't the first time he had seen kids with red hair running in the streets so he didn't see any problem in it.

"I heard that someone was impersonating Luke since he was kidnapped and it just seemed suspicious to see someone who looked like him running around in Baticul." Van explained.

Guy shrugged. "Maybe it's just some orphans wanting to become rich or something like that? Anyway, the real one is already back home and chances are that one just realized he was several weeks too late to pretend to be Luke or something like that."

Van nodded. "That may be the case, but impersonating royalty is not something that we should just overlook and I needed to catch up with the boy."

Guy sighed. "Give him a rest. He's just a kid." He then raised a piece of paper between the two of them and looked at Van. "By the way, could you help me out? I can't understand what is written here. And you should come with me to see Luke after. You know how he always looked up to you? Maybe you being there will trigger his memory."

Van closed his eyes as if thinking of something before looking at Guy with a smile. "Of course, young master."

Guy frowned. "You shouldn't call me that in public."

"The only ones in this alley are the two of us," he pointed at the old lady that Guy nearly crashed into a while ago, "and that old lady who is unlikely to hear what we are saying."

"Fine."

As Van helped him figure out what was written on the piece of paper, he couldn't help but feel that there was a slight hint of irritation in Van's tone and that the smile was a bit strained.

* * *

It was another busy day in Green Lizard's Nest, the largest tavern in the lower city of Baticul. Although today was a workday and it was only three hours after lunchtime, the tavern was still very much crowded. Apart from the waiters, workers that decided to take a day off and came here to get a beer and travelers that had heard of the most famous tavern in the lower city and decided to pay a visit, there were also many mercenaries lingering around. Most of the taverns in Auldrant had boards with notices offering mercenary jobs pinned onto it, but Green Lizard's Nest was more than that.

Unlike the other taverns where people just stuck their job offers randomly onto the board, the job notices here were posted in an organized way. Each notice board had their own job category: one with only delivery jobs, one with only escort jobs, one with only retrieval jobs, etc. It was the second closest to a mercenary guild Kratos had seen before in Aselia, the first being The Border Dwellers in Chesedonia, which was the tavern Kratos frequented the most when looking for mercenary jobs himself.

However, he wasn't here to take a job today, he was waiting for a certain red haired boy. Luke never replied whether he would come here tolook for him or not, but knowing the boy, he would find the time to make sure Kratos didn't get too injured from the last fight. There was just one problem with that logic: he wasn't sure what Luke would be like after he finished his own business. He also didn't know how Van was going to approach this matter. If Van successfully convinced the boy to go with him to Daath, then there wasn't much he could do.

He knew what he told Dist about Luke being in the most vulnerable state and how easily it would be for Van to snatch him away. He could only hope his silent support during their trip from Chesedonia to Baticul was enough to make the distraught boy understand that Van was not the only person he could go to. The most ideal case was for Luke to try to rein in the raging emotions Kratos was sure he was feeling right now and made himself known to his family and friends. It might take some convincing after that, but Kratos was sure at least the Duke would be able to tell which was his real son. Though if that happened, he couldn't imagine what the fate of the replica would be.

Kratos knew it was just wishful thinking. From what he knew of Luke, though it's subtle, the boy still exerted a certain amount of self-consciousness, especially when it came to his father. If Luke was to hear and see his father accepting another boy as his replacement, his mind would become so broken that he wouldn't be able to think straight to realize that it didn't have to be like this if he just showed himself to his family. Kratos was also pretty sure that Van would do anything to prevent Luke from being seen by his family and friends.

Kratos didn't like what Van was doing to the boy, but he also didn't like what _he_ was doing to the boy. Ever since he came to Auldrant, it didn't matter that what he was doing might ultimately save this world, he still felt like being a puppet master manipulating the others, which was one of the only things he truly hated doing but more often than not found himself in situations that could only be solved through such foul deeds. At least in Dist's case the scientist knew that he was being manipulated and still chose to help him on his own... maybe a bit forcefully... but it's still not that bad. Though Kratos never outright lied to Luke, he still concealed what he knew of the situation from the boy. It was like lying to his son about his own identity and real motives all over again.

That's why Kratos decided to let Luke know he had more choices than he first thought and tried not to interfere with Luke's decision as much as possible. He just hoped that the boy would choose wisely and not go with the man who just betrayed him, and might very well betray him again in the future. He also decided that if Luke were to come to him, he would let him know what he should know as much as possible. It would be hard for someone at such a young age who just underwent such emotional wreck to take in, but it's still better than keeping him in the dark. And he would let him decide for himself what he would want to do with his current situation after giving him some advice.

Speaking of telling the others what they need to know, Kratos knew that both Dist and Cantabile were still discreetly investigating on him on their own, though in Cantabile's case it was near non-existent, as the girl was the type to know when to stop prying into other's secret, and she also didn't have as much information on him as the the other did. Dist was just the type that hated unsolved mysteries and could be pretty nosy at times. Although he did know when to keep his mouth shut sometimes - well, only when Kratos made it clear he didn't want to talk about it - Kratos knew that he was getting ever closer. However, he was still not sure if he should let the others know about Derris Kharlan and him not being as human as they had been thinking.

From how Dist worded his question when he asked Kratos if there's anything he could do to help, he realized that the scientist might know more about him than he thought. There's also this whole thing about mana and Seventh Fonon that Kratos needed to take care of and he wasn't sure he could handle all this alone. He was still relatively new to this world and the only knowledge he knew about this world was from books and conversing with others. There was only so much he could learn from reading and talking to others. If he required other's help to analyze and solve the problem at hand, who better to ask than Dist? The scientist might still have many flaws, but Kratos knew he could trust him to keep his secret and help him. He knew he could also trust Cantabile, but if the girl was fine with not knowing, he didn't see the reason to let her in on the secret right now, maybe at a later time he would tell her. Depending of Luke's action from now on, Kratos might also have to tell him about it.

It was very noisy in the tavern, with all the activities happening in it, but Kratos still picked up the hurried footsteps of someone running to the tavern and knew that his wait was over. He remained in his seat in one of the more secluded corner and watched as the door opened to reveal none other than Luke fon Fabre.

* * *

**~ Omake: Not-So-Boring Duty ~**

"Did you hear that?"

"What?" Despite the other's question, Guard A just continued to look at the street in front of him with a boring look.

"It sounds like the cable is moving." Guard B turned around to look at the cable car he was guarding.

"Huh, maybe you are just hearing things?" Guard A shrugged.

"But..." Guard B furrowed his brow as he looked closely at the cable car and the cable above it, but he didn't think to check the other cable.

"Maybe the boredom finally gets to you? It's the busiest time of the day and many people are passing by, maybe you are just hearing the others doing whatever they are doing and think it's the cable. As if anyone's coming out of that forsaken place." Guard B just waved dismissively and still not looking at his colleague.

"I am not sure about the boring part... I heard from the others that they heard the cable moving every once in a while during the night... but they never saw the cable car coming here..."

"The night shift bunch? You have got to have some problems in the head to believe their blabbering."

"What do you mean?" Guard B crossed his arms as he looked at Guard A, a bit offended at the other's comment.

"Guard duty, especially guarding a rundown factory that was abandoned more than ten years ago, is the most boring job a soldier can get. And night shift? Doing nothing but standing in the dead of night? At least now I can do some cloud watching and people watching and try eavesdropping to entertain myself. I bet the silence got to them after the first few nights and they just started imagining things."

"But I swear-" Guard B heard the noise getting louder and saw a green _thing_ out of the corner of his eyes. "Look!" He turned around and pointed at the now identified cable car coming from a distance. "It really is moving!"

Guard A stared at the oncoming cable car and stuttered. "Wha- but-"

"Should I go and report it to the boss?" Guard B asked uncertainly, he was new to the ranks and wanted to make sure he was doing the correct thing.

Guard A snapped out of his stupor at the other's word, remembering that he's the senior here and needed to make the decision. "No, we don't know how many is coming and we don't have enough time to ask for reinforcement. We need to stay here and fight off whoever is or are coming. We have the advantage here as whoever is or are coming will be trapped inside the car."

The two got into fighting stance and waited with baited breath. Guard A told the other that they would surround the car and took out those inside it before they even stepped out of it. When the car got close enough and before it stopped totally, both guards thrust their swords into the small compartment. Hearing nothing and not feeling their swords colliding with anything, the two looked at each other. Guard A then kicked open the door to the small compartment.

"What's the meaning of this?" Guard A furrowed his brows as he looked at the empty cable car.

"It's them..." Guard B whispered with a haunted look.

"Who?"

"The ones that moved the cable car but never got into the city during the nights... th- the ghosts are finally coming!"

"Stop being so superstitious! As if ghost really exis-" Guard A was cut off when the cable cars, even the other stationary one, suddenly began swinging to their right and left. The two guards looked up and saw that the cause of the swinging was the cables vibrating violently.

They stared at the vibrating cables and started swearing after the violent vibration stopped, though the cars were still swinging. "What the-" Guard A was cut off again when the cables started shaking again for another few seconds and the swinging of the cars resumed with vigor.

The two guards looked at each other silently and after a while, Guard B started screaming. "I told you! It's the ghost!"

Though he was also not very sure of what was happening and a bit scared, Guard A just sighed and shook his head at the other's hysterical cries, not knowing what to say to the young man who had clearly lost it, and he blamed it on the boredom at the most undesirable duty a soldier could get. Because blaming it all on ghost, something he was sure didn't exist, was not something a trained soldier, newbie or not, should be doing in such situation.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

I know I am dragging it, but I wanted to write out Guy's POV on this matter first... and yes, the one that ran into Guy was Luke, who was feeling so hurt that either he didn't see Guy, or he did see him but thought that Guy would just be the same as the others and angrily pushed him to the ground, I will leave that to your own interpretation. Van needed to do something to prevent Guy from seeing the real Luke, so he had to call out to him to avert his attention to Luke and thus lost sight of him.

Many thanks to the reviewers for their reviews again! I see that some of you are looking forward to seeing Asch coming up to his parents and declared that he's the real one. I know it would get interesting if things come to that... sorry to disappoint you, but that won't happen in this fic, as there's already a very well written fanfic about Asch showing himself to his family and getting to be raised alongside replica Luke as brothers. It would be like a repeat of that fic if I am to do something like that and I don't want to accidentally copy over some of the ideas used in that fic. And the story would become too different from the original for my not so creative brain to come up with ideas to still keep all the significant events if Luke were to become Asch and vice versa, not to mention it would also be confusing as hell.

For those who are interested, the fic I am talking about is titled Reflections by . I highly recommend it to you if you want to read a fic where everyone knew beforehand that Asch is the real one and Luke is the replica.

_Uploaded on 18 May 2013._


	29. Throwing Away the Past

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 28: Throwing Away the Past**

The sun was already less than thirty degrees above the horizon and the Capital of Light was basked in the gentle glow of the setting sun. It was a beautiful view and sometimes travelers would climb up one of the nearby hills that could oversee the whole city just to enjoy the view. Two travelers, one tall and one short, could be seen standing on top of one such hills right now, but unlike the norms, they were not here to enjoy the view.

"Are you sure that's what you want? You can still go back to your family."

"Yes. They aren't my family if they couldn't tell that that wasn't the real me."

"It's only natural for them to think of your replica as the real you. Except for your memories, the two of you are basically the same, and Van had the memory part covered by making the replica have a mind that resembles an infant. If you are to reveal yourself, I am sure they will be able to tell that you are the real Lu-"

"Asch. It's Asch. My life as Luke fon Fabre is over the moment they accepted that fake as me. Now, I am just the remnant of the being called Luke." The boy's fist tightened at his side as he corrected the man standing next to him.

"You will regret this decision in the future."

"Maybe I will. But right now I don't want to see the faces of those liars." Asch said firmly.

Kratos nearly sighed at the boy's choice of word. "You do realize that I am also one of those 'liars', don't you?"

"No. You didn't lie to me, you just wasn't sure what _that man_ has planned for me. You might have kept the truth from me, but there wasn't any chance for you to tell me before and even if you did, it's not like I would believe you if you told me beforehand that _he_ was plotting something against me. And the first chance you got, you told me everything, you even let me decide what to do and agreed to help me with it."

That was something Kratos didn't know what to make of when Lu- Asch just accepted the things he told him of the Score and his role in it. On one hand, he was sad that the boy just accepted all this, a sign telling Kratos that he was too angry and hurt to really think about the implication of all this. On the other hand, he was glad that the boy was taking it well and didn't resent him for his inaction towards his misery.

He was worried that the distraught boy would push him, the only one he thought he could still trust and look up to, away. If that were to happen, the boy would become too far gone for Kratos to do anything for him, but he still took the risk of it because he knew Asch would really push him away and thought that the whole world was against him if he didn't tell him now let him discover it on his own later.

Asch turned his gaze away from Baticul to look at the mercenary standing behind him. "You are the only person I can trust to remain the same even after tha-" the boy shook his head and stopped himself from keep calling the other him 'fake', even though he had every right to do so, "even after he replaced me as Luke." He looked back at the city where he grew up in and whispered. "I don't care if I regret it later, I am not going back now."

Kratos looked at the ten-year-old boy with a sad look. It wasn't right for a boy his age to be so angry at his family for something they had no idea they did wrong to the point of declaring that he didn't want to go back to them. He knew he was more of an observer overseeing Van's plan and that Asch had to be replicated, but he had never thought that the one called Asch was in fact the real Luke and not the replica.

The whole situation felt wrong from the moment he saw the note saying that the replica was sent back to the Fabre mansion and not the real one. He was fully prepared to confront Van if he tried to interfere with Asch taking back his place in his family if that's what he wanted. He was also prepared to take the replica Luke under his wings if the Fabre family decided to kick him out.

He knew Asch was just feeling too hurt now to think straight and he wanted to convince Asch to reconsider his decision, but the boy was too stubborn and in his current state, it would do more harm than good if Kratos were to forcefully drag him back to his home. He needed to accept his family and friends back on his own or he might never forgive them for unintentionally pushing him away. Therefore, after thinking it through, Kratos reluctantly agreed that the best course of action for the time being would be to go along with the boy's wish and slowly guide him back to what he should really do when his bitterness towards the others faded.

After a while, Asch once again turned to look at Kratos. "I am ready to leave my past behind and start a new life."

The two held their gaze with each other as Kratos reevaluated the mental state of the boy and hoped against all hope that the boy would rethink about his decision of abandoning his home, even if it's only temporarily if Kratos were to have any say in it. However, Kratos didn't only see the haunted look of a child who just went through a traumatic situation, but also determination to begin his life anew and knew that he had no choice but follow his decision for the time being.

"Very well. But before we do anything, there's something else I need to tell you."

"More about the Score?"

"No. About me."

Asch blinked. "You mean your family?"

"Not Exactly. First we need to go to Belkend and then from there, we will take a ship to Daath."

* * *

"Have you found him?"

"No. I can't find any trace of him leaving Baticul. It's like he just disappeared."

Van glared at the man before him. "Are you implying that he committed suicide?"

Largo shook his head. "If he took his life in Baticul, I am sure we will hear about it sooner or later."

"I told you he would do something stupid! But no, you told us you alone would be enough to keep track of him and decided that you had to go and meet the replica to avoid suspicion! And now we don't even know if the kid is dead or alive! Wha-"

"Enough!" Van barked out, normally he wouldn't lose his composure like this, but the thought of losing his one and only chance of getting his hand on Luke had made him cranky, and Dist's rambling was trying his patience. "Despite what you might think, he is not someone to commit suicide. There's nothing we can do now except continue searching for him. Now go back to your work and keep an eye out for his whereabouts."

Dist muttered something under his breath as he followed Largo out of Van's office. After his two subordinates left, Van gave out a tired sigh and leaned back on his chair. He stared in front of him without really looking. He had failed. Just one small mistake and his plan had gone haywire. He didn't think Luke was the type to kill himself, but Dist was right, the boy was feeling too distraught. But then the Score didn't say anything about him dying so he couldn't, wouldn't, didn't want to, just write him off as dead either.

It was true that things derailed from the Score when replicas were involved, but he didn't think it would become so different so early after the replica was created. No, he didn't think Luke was dead, not when he knew the truth behind the Score. Luke wouldn't died so much earlier than his destined time as foretold by the Score, the memory of the planet itself.

He snorted at his own thought. How ironic that he had to rely on the very thing he had been planning to overthrow now. In any case, no matter whether Luke still lived or not, he needed to make some changes to his original plan. For instance, although the replica would never become the real deal, he was still useful and Van could start with him.

Since the replica was just like an infant now, he could become his father figure by showing more kindness to him, something he was sure the Duke wouldn't be able to do better than him, and he would then be able to shape him into the person that would be the easiest for him to manipulate. Not just replica Luke, there was also the replica Ion that would be made in five years time that he could manipulate.

Yes, losing the real Luke was a huge setback for his plan, but he could still make do with it. There were still several years till his other preparations would be completed for the actual plan to start. He would just have to think of something else before then. In the meantime, he could still hope that Luke would one day turn up in Daath to accept his offer to become an Oracle Knight under him.

* * *

"Why are we here? Aren't we going to Daath?" Asch asked as he looked around the forest they were in, hoping to find a clue to why they were stopping here, in the middle of nowhere.

"No. I only said to take a ship to Daath, not to Daath itself."

"Then what are we doing here?"

"We are waiting for someone."

"Who?"

Instead of answering the question, Kratos inclined his head and looked up at the sky before them. Asch followed his gaze and also looked up at the sky, but he didn't see anything unusual there. All he saw were birds flying in the sky, though one in particular were flying at them and was getting larger and larger and-

_Wh- what is that!?_ The boy blinked at the _thing_ flying towards them. As it came closer to them, he could vaguely make out something that looked like a man sitting on a chair. _How is that even possible? I have never heard of people flying in the sky... especially not while sitting on a chair! _Asch just stared in amazement at the chair and the man in it as it started landing before them.

"Sorry I am late," the man began before the flying chair even touched the ground, "Van-"

"You know Van!?" At the mention of his source of misery, all thoughts of awe at the technology he had never seen before vanished from his face as he snarled at the newcomer.

The newcomer rolled his eyes at the boy. "Of course I know him. Everyone living in Daath and I am sure most of the world know of him due to his position in the Order of Lorelei." He turned to Kratos. "Van wanted Largo and me to report to him-"

"You _work_ for him." The look of hate on the boy intensified as he once again interrupted the other.

"No. I work _against_ him." The man said irritatingly and glared at Asch. "Now are you going to just let me finish my sentence or do I need to first give you a lecture on manners and how to be polite and respectful to your elders?"

"Who do you think I am to talk to me like this!?" Asch growled.

"And who do you think told Kratos where to find you after you escaped?" The man rebutted with an even fiercer growl and the two were locked in a heated staring contest.

Kratos sighed at the two's exchange and decided to step in. "Dist, what did Van wanted you to report?"

Reluctantly breaking the staring contest, to which Asch smirked, as it meant that he had won, Dist turned to Kratos and jerked a thumb at Asch. "The search for this kid."

Kratos looked as if he had been expecting the reply. "How's it going then?"

"The same as what I told you last time, though this time Largo hinted that he thought the brat killed himself but Van seemed not to buy it at all. Must be something to do with the Score."

Asch's eyebrow ticked at how the man was saying all this in front of him as if he wasn't here, then he noticed something weird with the sentence. "The last time you told Kratos? When was that? I have been with Kratos all the time since we left Baticul but I have never seen you before."

"When the two of you were in Port Sheridan." Dist then smiled smugly. "As for how, it was one of my inventions that allowed long distance communication. And you were wrong, we have met before."

"We did?" Then Asch really looked at the man before him and realized that the man did look familiar... but he couldn't place where he had met this man, who obviously worked with Kratos to plot against Van.

_Wait... someone that works with Kratos... and ill-tempered... and all this arguing... ah! _"You were the annoying Oracle Knight with Kratos in the Cheagle Woods!"

This time it was Dist's eyebrow that ticked at the boy's description of him. "Glad to know I made such a good first impression." He said sarcastically.

"Only because you made it so easy." Asch snickered.

"Why you little-"

Kratos resisted the urge to sigh and once again stepped in to stop the two's bickering. "Asch, Dist is an acquaintance of mine. As you must have already deduced, he is spying on Van under the disguise of a scientist working for him. He is the one that informed me of your kidnap and where to look for you after you escaped." He turned to Dist. "So, tell me what you have figured so far."

Dist broke his gaze from the boy again and frowned at Kratos. "Now?"

"Yes. Now."

"But what about him?" The scientist pointed to Asch.

"He will listen to it too."

The frown on Dist intensified. "But-"

"I know you are thinking that it's unfair, but we will be traveling together from now on so he has to know."

"Know what?" Asch asked, not liking how the two were talking about something that obviously also related to him without actually telling him what it was.

Kratos turned to the boy. "Remember when I said I needed to tell you more about myself?"

"Yes. You said you will tell me once we get to our destination." Asch blinked. "You mean here? I thought you were talking about Daath..."

"No, I wasn't talking about Daath, and though we haven't arrived at our destination yet, I need the two of you to first have an idea about it." The mercenary turned to the spy again. "Dist, if you could do the honor and start from the beginning?"

Dist sighed dramatically. "Fine... life is _always_ so unfair..." Then he straightened himself and narrowed his eyes at Asch. "You are lucky, brat, I have been trying to solve the mystery for more than five years already and you get to have someone just handing the whole truth to you."

Asch ached an eyebrow at the man's words and silently prompted him to just start telling him whatever this mystery was and stop whining about things being unfair with an unimpressed look, all the while resisting the urge to make another comeback to the man for the 'brat' comment as it seemed Kratos really wanted them to just get on with it.

"You know that Kratos is a Seventh Fonist, right?" Seeing the nod from the boy, Dist continued. "But do you know that he isn't a born Seventh Fonist?"

Asch furrowed his brows. "You mean a pseudo Seventh Fonist? But I thought it isn't possible with our current technology."

Dist shook his head. "It _is _possible, just that the pseudo Seventh Fonist would be permanently damaged physically or mentally or both due to the toll of the artificially injected Seventh Fonon into their body."

Asch gasped and look at Kratos. "And you are one?"

Kratos nodded. "Without any side effect." He added.

"Anyway," Dist emphasized the word when he noticed Asch's attention was not on him anymore and only continued after he was sure Asch turned back his attention to him, "I knew Kratos from before he became a Seventh Fonist and he also posed as a Seventh Fonist after he healed my injuries when we first met. That's why I knew that there's something fishy about his po-"

Asch turned to Kratos again even before Dist finished his sentence. "You can heal even though you can't use Seventh Fonon?"

Dist's eyebrow ticked at how Asch once again turned his attention to the mercenary when _he_ was the one doing the explanation. He coughed loudly and Asch turned to look at him again, but only after Kratos gestured for him to pay attention to the scientist's explanation.

"As I was saying, I knew that there's something fishy about his power, so after I accidentally acquired some of his energy, I started analyzing it hoping to get to the bottom of the mysterious energy he possessed. In the meantime, as I spent more time with him, I realized that there are many other things about him that placed him as someone apart from the norm, one of which I am sure you have also realized by now."

Asch blinked. "I do?"

Dist rolled his eyes. "Just look at Kratos again and tell me what you notice about him."

Asch looked at the man as the other suggested but didn't find anything out of the norm and told the scientist as much.

"Did you see any difference on him from when you first saw him?"

"Ummm... no?" The red head said uncertainly.

"That's it! There's no difference even after all these years! I mean, how can someone look the same as they were five years ago? That's just so unfair! It isn't like-"

"Dist, just get to the point." Kratos interjected and stopped the other's ranting which he knew would just be a waste of time and would go on for a long time.

"Right." Dist coughed to hide his embarrassment at needing to have the mercenary stop him from going into another rant _again. _"So... Kratos looks like he hasn't aged a day since I first met him. There's also his advanced hearing and sight, inhuman strength, able to function with little rest and food. Then some time ago something interesting turned up in my study on that unknown energy, which I could only come to the conclusion that it was something not supposed to be of this world."

Excitement gleamed in his eyes as he went into his findings of this unknown power. "It seemed that not only this mysterious energy is compatible with the Seventh Fonon, making it possible for the two to mix without causing additional toll to the host, but it also converts itself to Seventh Fonon as time passed, just like it is changing its structure to adapt to a new environment it is thrust into."

He held his gaze with Kratos as he said the next part. "I theorized that this energy was a previous form of the Fonon of Sound, which isn't that hard to believe considering the Fonon of Sound is a relatively new type of energy compared to the other six types of fonon and was only discovered two thousand years ago. When that energy was exposed to a surrounding full of Seventh Fonon, it also started to evolve. But then if that's the case, it would mean that for some reason you and your ancestors were not present in this world for the last two thousand years or more for your energy to only start evolving recently."

The trio fell silent after that, each being occupied with their own thought on the matter. Asch was trying to digest all the information he was just told, Dist was waiting for Kratos to confirm and maybe add to his theories and Kratos was impressed at Dist for discovering so much.

"It's called mana." Kratos finally said.

"Mana? The power you possessed?"

Kratos nodded. "You were right in saying that it's like a previous form of the Seventh Fonon and that the mana in my body only started to change recently due to my coming to this planet. And before you ask, I didn't even know of the existence of this planet until five years ago."

Asch was confused by all this and was trying very hard to take in all this. However, confused as he was, Kratos' words surprised him greatly. "Wait... you mean you are from a different planet? As in... an alien?"

"I suppose you can say that. I am telling you this because I think it's better for you to know of my background if we are to travel together from now on, and we might also need to stay there to avoid Van discovering your whereabouts and trying to capture you." There was a pause as Kratos pondered his next words, and Asch heard the scientist mumbling something about 'not too far off' just before Kratos continued speaking. "I am going to take the two of you to Derris Kharlan, the planet I came from. But before that, Asch, there's something I needed to discuss with Dist alone. Could you wait here?"

Still confused and surprised about all the things he just heard, Asch numbly nodded at Kratos' request. He wasn't the only one that's surprised, as the scientist was pointing at himself with a questioning look when Kratos announced that he wanted to discuss with him alone about something that he was almost certain that was related to the mercenary's home planet. Seeing the boy's nod, Kratos started heading towards a deeper part of the forest and soon after getting over his confusion, the scientist shrugged before jumping out of his chair and followed behind Kratos.

* * *

"So what is it you want to discuss with me?" Dist asked once Kratos stopped. They were quite some distance away from Asch and it would be impossible for the boy to hear them unless he was also secretly following them behind, but Dist didn't think the boy would do something like that. Even if he did follow them to eavesdrop, Kratos would know.

Kratos turned around to face him and replied. "It's about the thing you said about the Seventh Fonon being the evolved form of mana."

"Ah I see. Actually, about that... I don't understand it... especially after you said that you didn't know of Auldrant till five yea-" he blinked and gasped, "five years ago!? Isn't that when we first..." he trailed off.

Kratos nodded. "You were the first person I came across after I came to this planet."

Dist grinned, feeling giddy for being the first Auldranti to meet the space traveler, but the grin disappeared not long after as he adopted a thinking expression. "Is there some connection between Auldrant and this Deri- this planet of yours? Otherwise how come we can communicate? I mean, though there's quite a strong accent, we can still understand each other... and what of the relation between mana and the Seventh Fonon? It doesn't make sense that you've never heard of Auldrant before if there are so many things linking the two planets."

"Yes, there is a connection, but I myself only discovered it less than a month ago." He closed his eyes as he recalled the conversation between him and Gnome. "It was also only then that I knew about the Fonon of Sound being something like the evolved form of mana and that the life energy I was born with was being slowly converted into something I didn't even know existed till five years ago."

"Kratos... are you feeling alright?" Dist asked worriedly. The mercenary's tone raised just the slightest bit when he said the last part of his sentence, but after spending such a long time around the normally stoic man, Dist noticed the slight change of tone and knew that the man was troubled and decided that the questions can wait.

Kratos let out a shaky breath and shook his head. "No. I am not, not until I find a way to stop it."

"Stop? You mean the conversion? Why do you need to stop it? Is... is something terrible going to happen to you if all your mana was turned into Seventh Fonon?" He then realized something else. "Wait... if it's true and you didn't know of Auldrant even though there's an obvious connection... is that also the reason for not passing down the knowledge of Auldrant in your world? That something terrible would happen if all the mana is turned into Seventh Fonon?"

"Yes and no." Kratos began removing the finger-less glove on on his left hand. "It's true that something terrible would happen if all the mana disappeared, but not to me."

Dist stared at the hand that was now glove-less and noticed a crystal embedded onto the back of the hand. "Everyone living on Derris Kharlan has a crystal equipped on their body. The Cruxis Crystal." Kratos held up his hand so Dist could see the crystal clearer. "It is crystallized mana and when equipped, it awakens one's dormant capabilities and amplifies them."

"A booster... that explains your superhuman abilities... what about aging? Or is it something normal for the people on Derris Kharlan? To have a longer life span that is."

"There are people on Derris Kharlan that have longer life spans than normal human, but the Cruxis Crystals allow them to alter their metabolism and stop their internal clock by manipulating their body's mana. However, the process is irreversible."

There was an audible gasp as Dist understood the implication of what Kratos just said. "An ageless being..." He whispered.

Kratos nodded. "Apart from that, there are also many side effects associated with the Cruxis Crystal. Some of them can be suppressed when one attaches a Rune Crest to it." He pointed to the golden mountings of his Cruxis Crystal. "This is my Rune Crest." He paused and waited for Dist to examine the Cruxis Crystal and Rune Crest.

When the scientist noticed that Kratos had stopped talking and was in fact waiting for him to finish, he straightened and nodded embarrassingly to let the other know he could resume his explanation. "Something happened several years ago and all the material used for creating the Rune Crest was destroyed. Right now I am the only one with a Rune Crest on."

"You mean the others are all suffering from the side effects!? Can't they just take it off their body?"

"The removal of Cruxis Crystal without a Rune Crest causes permanent damage to the host, similar to the damage the Seventh Fonon caused to a person when it is forcefully injected into that person."

There was an unreadable look on Dist as he thought about what Kratos just said.

"I have been looking for ways to suppress the side effects of the Cruxis Crystal without using the Rune Crest. I thought I have an eternity to find a method to do so. However, after I have discovered that all the mana on Derris Kharlan was being slowly replaced by Seventh Fonon and that the conversion happened faster for inanimate object..." Kratos trailed off, not really wanting to finish the sentence.

Dist nodded gravely, understanding how serious the problem was and why the experienced man was this troubled. "Being crystallized mana, once all the mana of the Cruxis Crystal is replaced by Seventh Fonon, it would be like a forced removal of the crystal without the suppressor."

Kratos closed his eyes and nodded. "I don't want Asch to hear any of it, he already has enough to worry about as it is."

* * *

"Close your eyes if you want to lessen the feeling of nausea." Was the only warning Kratos gave before Asch felt something weird tugging at his _inside. _He quickly followed Kratos' advice and closed his eyes and felt that he was pulled into _something._ The uncomfortable feeling lingered even after the pull stopped.

"What's that?" Dist groaned and he placed a hand on his forehead in an attempt to sooth away the headache.

"Sorry about that, this is my first time taking someone without any mana in their body with me when I warp."

"Warp?"

"The technology of traveling long distance in a matter of seconds through the manipulation of the user's body mana."

"That's amazing! So how- Ouch..." Dist closed his eyes again and held onto Kratos' shoulder to steady himself as he tried to recover from the nausea feeling.

Though faring much better than the other, Asch was also feeling the effect of disorientation. After he shook his head a few times and found that the black dots had finally disappeared from his vision and he was feeling considerably better, he started looking around.

They were no longer in the forest, no, this new place they were in didn't even remotely resemble the forest, or should he say that it was the exact opposite of a forest. The only things he saw when he looked around were metals. Silvery white buildings that looked to be made of pure metal, even the silvery white ground they were standing on seemed to be made of metal. The only colors he saw were the metallic silver and purple – _wait, a purple sky? - _then he saw something that was not only comprised of the two colors and-

"Are the wings real?" Dist asked as he also noticed the winged beings passing by after finally getting over the nausea feeling.

"Yes."

"Angels..." Asch muttered under his breath.

Dist looked at the back of Kratos. "You don't have one?"

"There are two types of angels. I am of the second type that could hide their wings at will." Kratos started walking towards one of the buildings and the other two fell in step after him. They didn't ask anymore question after that as they were busy taking in the new surroundings and examining the angels nearby with awe, and in the scientist's case, also excitement. They were looking at one in particular who was flying towards them when the angel stopped before the trio.

"Lord Kratos. The data you wanted are all in Lord Yuan's workshop as you have ordered." The angel said monotonously.

Both Dist and Asch blinked at how the angel addressed the auburn haired man as the man in question dismissed the angel with a nod. _  
_

Before either of the two could voice their questions, Kratos resumed walking again and the two quickly followed after him. "We are currently in Welgaia, the only city in Derris Kharlan. Angels are the only beings living in this city. All the angels here are of an organization called Cruxis. I am one of the Four Seraphim and the current leader of Cruxis."

"An organization? What's it for?" Asch threw a dirty look at the scientist for asking the first question. Though he was also curious of the answer to that question, but really, of all the questions, he just had to start with the _least_ interesting and important one.

"Right now our only purpose is to find a new home."

There were many other questions burning in his mind, but after Asch heard Kratos' answer, he became more interested in the purpose of Cruxis. "Why? Don't you already have a whole planet as your home?"

Kratos stopped and gestured their surroundings."Do you see the future of the people living here?"

There was an unreadable expression on Dist while Asch looked around and took in the dreariness of the city they were currently in. He noticed how the angels just drifted around aimlessly without interacting with the others even when they passed by them. He saw Kratos' point and, despite the burning desire to ask more questions, felt the heaviness in the atmosphere and decided to not say anything more for fear of asking the wrong question. However, there was someone that just didn't know when to shut their mouth.

"Not really." Asch wanted to scream in frustration at the clueless and insensitive man for stating the obvious and no doubt make the sadness he was sure Kratos was feeling increase. But the scientist's next words surprised him. "But the problem is not the place, but the people in it. That's why we will find a way to change their lives."

Surprised at the unexpected encouragement that came from the man he thought to be clueless and insensitive as he was, he couldn't help but be confused at Dist's words. "What do you mean change their lives?"

Kratos glared at Dist who flinched slightly before turning to look at the boy. "What do you feel when you look at them?"

Asch looked around at the angel-filled city again. He knew there was something wrong when he looked at them at Kratos' question of their future, now it became apparent to him what it was Kratos was talking about. "They feel... empty."

Kratos noded. "None of the people here were born angels, including me. We are... artificial angels. The process of making an angel out of a normal man is very delicate and the previous leader left out the last step of the process. However, that last step is in fact the most important and without it, the people here became what one might call lifeless beings."

"Lifeless beings..." Asch repeated the word with a barely audible whisper, then with a louder voice he asked, "why would the previous leader do something like that?"

"He made a mistake, one I am trying to correct."

"A mistake!? That's just irresponsible!" Asch couldn't imagine someone that had the power to lead a whole organization of angels making such a grave mistake. It sounded so wrong for one to lose their mind and their _leader_ to just stroll up to them and tell them 'sorry, I made a mistake'. Not only that, he left Kratos to shoulder his own responsibility. "Where's he now?"

"He is gone, so are the other two Seraphim. I am the only one left to find a way to help them."

"No you aren't. _We _are going to find a way to help them." Dist said, correcting Kratos' statement.

"That's right." Asch nodded. "I will also help you look for a way."

Kratos glared at Dist again for giving the boy idea. He had specifically told the other man that he didn't want to trouble the boy with his problem, but the scientist just had to burst the secret so soon.

However, this time instead of flinching, Dist bravely returned the stare with his own glare. "You said it yourself that it would be difficult to act without letting the brat-"

"Hey!" Asch shouted, indignant at the 'brat' comment.

"- know the whole story."

Kratos stopped his glaring after Dist told him his reason. He noticed how Dist had phrased the sentence. By saying that this was the 'whole' story, he had skillfully withheld information of the _real _problem from Asch and stopped him from thinking something else was wrong. Though that's not what Kratos had in mind, letting the red haired boy know about the lesser problem would indeed stop him from prying too deep into the real problem at hand, and since they hadn't revealed the fact that it's an urgent matter, Asch wouldn't feel as stressful as he was.

If it was the Dist of five years ago, he would never be able to pull something like this off. At first, Kratos had been worried about having the man become a double agent. One of the only reasons he asked him to do it was that he was his only option at the time. Not just him, both Cantabile and Evenos had voiced their concern of letting him do the spying. However, in the past five years, Dist had showed all of them that he could indeed handle the job well. He might have asked for tips from Kratos, who had revealed to Dist that he had also been a spy some time ago, but it's still not an easy thing to just learn how to do something like this along the way, especially when one took into account the scientist's personality.

Kratos was also worried about all the pressure of living two different lives at once eventually getting to the man and making him break, but it seemed he was doing fine, even after the extra spying he needed to do for Mohs, but that might just be because Dist was someone without any real conscience. He had been trying to expand the man's world and let him understand that the world didn't only revolve around him and certain people he deemed important. The process was slow but he could see the damage done by a certain Malkuthian soldier was being slowly repaired. However, he didn't know if fixing the scientist's way of thinking when he was working as a triple agent was a good thing.

"Let me help you, Kratos!" Asch said determinedly and Kratos realized that the boy must have mistaken his silence for not wanting the boy's help.

However, though making Asch think that Kratos was refusing his offer of help wasn't his original intention, he shook his head at the boy's offer. "You have enough to worry about as it is."

"I know that there's also the Score I need to worry about, but you also said that we don't know when everything's going to start. If what we are doing is ultimately let people live their own lives, then don't you think I should also be able to choose my own life from now on? That's why..." He trailed off.

Kratos looked at the determination etched on the boy's face and nodded, prompting him to finish his sentence.

"Until I am needed elsewhere, let this be my new purpose."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Err... a bit exhausted of ideas for another omake... and sorry about skipping the actual scene where Kratos told Asch about the Score among other stuff... I admit that I wasn't skillful/creative/responsible enough to write that out, so I will leave it to your own imagination :P

Kratos had finally told someone else about Derris Kharlan, right now it would be on a need-to-know basis, wonder when Cantabile and the others would also know. So now that we have gotten past the whole Asch being replicated thing, next chapter will be the start of a new arc. See you next chapter ^^

_Uploaded on 26 May 2013._


	30. Aftermath of Betrayal

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 29: Aftermath of Betrayal**

Asch was tired to the bones after another four hours of training with Kratos, his new teacher in swordsmanship, though the now revealed angel refused to be called 'Master'. It had been nearly four months since his new life started and Asch could almost say that Welgaia had become his new home if not for the still dreary atmosphere of the city making him unable to feel the warmth a home should have. They had heard from Dist that Van was still searching for the disappeared original Luke and decided to stay here for the time being.

The tired boy slowly dragged his body back to his room, one of the unoccupied rooms in the eerily quiet city he was assigned to by one of the soulless angels. He had thought to first showered before taking a nap, but once he opened the door to his room and saw the bed in it, he decided to skip the showering part.

_Screw it, it's not like anyone's going to scold me for dirtying the bed anymore. _He thought bitterly as he lied on his bed looking up at the white ceiling.

He had told himself to forget all of it, to remember that he's here to start a new life and to not let anything drag him down, but he couldn't help but still feel bitter towards everything that's happened. He knew he was going to regret all this. However, even after four months, a long enough time for him to 'cool down' as the other two had said, he still couldn't get the expression of happiness on _his _family and _ex-_friends the last time he saw them playing with the fak- the new Luke fon Fabre.

He supposed it's a good thing that that traitor was still blindly searching for him so that he could lay low in Derris Kharlan. Though he would say bitterly when asked that Baticul was his ex-hometown, Auldrant would never be his _ex-_home-planet. But for some reason he was glad to know that he didn't have to go back to Auldrant and face the people on it. After all, when he really thought about it, nearly half the population of Auldrant betrayed him by accepting the replica as the son of Duke Fabre and rejecting him as a nameless brat that dared impersonate their oh-so precious future King of Kimlasca.

When he woke up, it was already nine in the morning of the next day. He quickly showered and left his room to search for Kratos, eager to start another session of training. Although he didn't want to go back to Auldrant so soon, staying in Derris Kharlan was boring, especially since none of the angels here, apart from Kratos, could hold any intelligent conversation at all, he also didn't want to accidentally break any of the weird machines here by examining them a little bit too close, and Kratos had forbidden him to venture to some places of the actually-quite-small planet, reasoning that there were powerful monsters there. There's also the reason that he needed _something_ to do to occupy his mind so he could forget that happy smiles his moth- _that woman_ and Natalia directed at the replica that was still plaguing him after so long.

However, for some reason, Kratos hadn't taught him any Artes yet. Mostly they were just sparring and at other times he was assigned to do some basic exercise. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that Kratos was not satisfied with his current skill. Nearly all the time when they finished their spars with him losing, he could literally feel the disappointment radiating from the auburn haired man, just like when his fath- _that man_ was disappointed at his performance and thought he should have done better. Was that the reason Kratos hadn't started the more advanced training with him? Because he thought he was not yet ready? These questions had been on his mind for the past four months. Everyday when he woke up to start a new day, he was determined to show his new master how capable he was and proof to him that he was ready and could handle whatever advanced or vigorous training the other threw his way.

After asking for the whereabouts of Kratos from one of the passing angels – he still felt goose bumps whenever they talked to him with that empty tone – he went to the main control room, curious as to why the seraph was there. When he neared the room and the automatic door slid open, he saw that Kratos was not the only occupant in the room.

"No. You can't go there. It's too dangerous." Dist frowned while holding his gaze with Kratos.

"Can you find an alternative way to do it then?" Kratos asked calmly.

The frown intensified. "No... but-"

"If there's no way around it, I will go there."

"Go where?" Asch asked, looking questioningly at the two arguing adults.

Dist looked at Asch as if only just noticed that there was a third person in the room. "Ah good timing Asch, help me convince this stubborn man to not go to the Qliphoth and kill himself in the process."

"Where?"

Dist blinked at the blank look on the boy when he mentioned the Qliphoth. "Wha- ah right, you don't know about it yet." He then went into a very detailed description of the Float Project and everything he thought Asch should know about. Asch was surprised at all this new information, then he immediately chided himself for being this surprised after all that Kratos had told him about the Score and Van's plan to overthrow it.

"So you mean you are going to Yulia City? Why's that dangerous?" He asked Kratos after he digested all the information given to him by the scientist.

Dist rolled his eyes. "Of course Yulia City is not dangerous, there are others living there you know."

"We are talking about the Tower of Rem." Kratos said before Asch could say anything to the scientist and start another round of bickering.

"The Tower of Rem?"

"It's an ancient tower that stands in the Qliphoth. It's from the Dawn Age and part of a plan to travel to another planet, should they fail to create the Outer Lands." Kratos explained.

Asch blinked. "A tower that's tall enough to link to another planet!? But why don't we see it shooting out of the ground, or sea, if it's that high?"

"They dropped the plan midway and the tower was abandoned." Kratos answered.

"Okay." Asch blinked, well, it made sense seeing as they were now living in a miasma-free environment. "So why are you going there?"

The scientist cut in. "No one's going there."

Kratos sighed. "Dist, I know you are worried, but it's not I am going to stay for long. Though it's still harmful, short exposure to the miasma won't kill me."

"But..." Dist trailed off, couldn't really think of anything else to say at the moment.

Seeing that the other was unlikely to interrupt again, Asch repeated his question. "So why are you going there again?"

"Shadow is there."

"The Aggregate Sentience of the First Fonon?"

"Do you know of any other Shadow?" Dist asked irritatingly.

Before Asch could say anything to the rude man, Kratos once again stepped in before an argument could break out. "I know you are bitter that I am going despite your warning, but stop taking it out on Asch."

Asch glared at the now silent scientist before turning to Kratos. "Why do you need to look for Shadow? And how do you know he's there?"

"Not just Shadow, I am also going to the Radiation Gate to look for Rem, as we need their help with the Rune Crest. As for how, we used Derris Kharlan's core system to search for the places with the highest concentration of the Fonon of Light and Darkness."

"They can help? How? I thought you can't find the material for the crest anywhere in Auldrant... are you saying they can create the material for it or something similar?"

Asch saw out of the corner of his eye that Dist looked to be about to launch into another very lengthy explanation about how all this was going to work but was cut off by Kratos before he could even start. "It's quite complicated to explain it now, the simplified version would be that we required their power to make it possible to use Fomicry on the Rune Crest."

When Kratos first shared his problem about not having the means to make more Rune Crest for the other angels, Dist had suggested to replicate the Rune Crest. He also said that he would further the Fomicry research to make perfect replicas of the crest so that the copies could also be used to suppress the side effects of the Cruxis Crystal. However, Kratos told them that he had also thought about it before and through various discussion with Dist about Fomicry in the past, he knew that they couldn't use Fomicry for this.

There were several reasons. First, they only had one available Rune Crest to experiment on apart from the one attached to Kratos' Cruxis Crystal: the Rune Crest on the corpse of Mithos Yggdrasill, the previous leader of Cruxis, whose body was preserved in a cold room in the basement to the Castle of Vinheim. When Asch asked about it, Kratos replied that it was one of the last wishes of the ex-leader to remain in Derris Kharlan. If something were to happen to that Rune Crest during the experiment, they would have lost their final chance to freely analyze a Rune Crest that's not attached to anything.

Second, Fomicry was not invented to replicate anything not made of fonon. If they really wanted to make copies of the Rune Crest with it, Dist would have to do a hell lot of research first. Third, even if they successfully found a way to replicate the mana-based object, the replica created would still be fonon-based. Well, Dist had claimed that if he could really find a way to replicate something that's not made of fonon, he would also be able to make the replica not made of fonon but mana instead. But that in itself was a big if, considering Dist was not the one to invent Fomicry in the first place and Lorelei knew how long it would take the scientist to create a mana-version of the already complicated and not yet perfected technology.

"Time is of essence, we don't know if Rem and Shadow are going to move soon, so I suggest we go now." Kratos turned his gaze at Asch. "If you want, we can give a more thorough explanation later."

"I am going with you?" Asch asked, though he was already smiling at the thought of going to the Radiation Gate and the Tower of Rem, two of the places he had never been to before, and he was going there to meet the Aggregate Sentience of Light and Darkness! Though he didn't know how they were going to ask for help from them – would it work if they just came up to them and politely asked them to lend them their powers? - judging from Kratos' tone, he seemed to know what to do and he was content to just follow his lead.

Kratos nodded. "I know you are bored with not being able to do anything while being trapped here. Think of this as a training trip." Asch felt happiness at hearing the term 'training trip'. He would finally be able to show his how well he could handle his fight to his new teacher.

"Wait, Kratos!" The two shifted their gaze to Dist at his outburst. "You are seriously considering taking this brat to the Tower of Rem!? A place full of misama!?" Asch growled when Dist called him 'brat' again. Seriously, how long was the man going to keep doing that? Couldn't he see that he wasn't a kid anymore?

"No. The two of you will only come with me to the Radiation Gate."

Asch opened his mouth to protest, but Dist cut him off. "Fine, but I still don't like the fact that you are going to the Tower of Rem." Then he thought of something. "What about the Daathic Seal of the Radiation Gate?"

"Daathic Seal?" Asch asked.

"Radiation Gate is one of the largest Sephiroth on Auldrant. To make sure that no one would do anything funny to the passage ring inside and make the Outer Lands collapse, the Order of Lorelei placed Daathic Seals on every Sephiroth." Kratos explained. "As for how we are going to get through it," he turned to Dist, "I need your help for that."

"My help? Why? Only the Fon Ma- oh I see, you want me to get Evenos."

Asch quirked an eyebrow at that. He knew the Fon Master was in league with Kratos, but to be able to ask the Fon Master to leave Daath just to help them open a sealed door?

* * *

After Kratos told Asch to go get ready for their trip to the Radiation Gate, Dist had gone back to Daath and told Evenos that they needed to get inside the Radiation Gate and wanted the Fon Master to remove the Daathic Seal for them. Although Dist didn't tell him the exact reason, just that Kratos needed to get something inside the Radiation Gate to help with his own problems, Evenos had agreed to come. However, since it's an unofficial trip, they needed to find a way to shake off the Fon Master Guardian and not let anyone know of it.

Cantabile had walked in on the two when they were thinking of ways to sneak out of the Order and, being the loyal daughter she was, agreed to act as a diversion for them without even getting the full story of why they needed to do that and asked for them to take Marcel so that he could protect the Fon Master. Though Dist was annoyed that he not only needed to take one, but two people with him, he finally resigned to have his newly created robot, one that could fly after he utilized his own imitation of the flightstone in Sheridan, to carry the two to Radiation Gate, where Kratos and Asch were already waiting in front of the entrance.

"Thanks for coming, Evenos." Kratos said to the elderly Fon Master.

"There's no need to thank me, especially after you have done so much to help us." Evenos smiled at the auburn haired man before walking up to the Daathic seal to break it.

"So you are Lu- Asch? Nice to meet you."

Asch narrowed his eyes at the blond that came with Evenos. "Who are you?"

"No need to get all hostile, I am also a friend of Kratos. The name is Marcel Oslo." The man grinned at Asch sheepishly in an attempt to make him stop glaring at him for his nearly calling him the name he threw away some time ago.

Asch nodded at Marcel. Though the glare became less intense, the boy didn't say anything after that. The blond Oracle Knight frowned slightly at the boy's antics and leaned over to Dist. "Is he always like that?"

"I don't know him that much... but I don't think that's normal for him." Dist shrugged. "Though if I remember correctly, he didn't like people working for the Order."

"Because of Van?"

"No, even before that. I met him once before all this occurred and he sure expressed his hatred towards people working to fulfill the Score. Though strangely he was already training under Van at that time."

Marcel blinked. "So you mean he also doesn't like you?"

Dist furrowed his brows at the question. "Maybe." He drawled out slowly after a while.

Marcel sighed, he, and nearly all of the people working in the Order, knew about Dist's socializing skill, or lack thereof. Though he had some friends, though hidden, when it came to the socializing department, Dist was still quite socially-inept. Marcel was sure that even if Asch wasn't disliking the scientist, unless the boy outright told him that he didn't dislike him and was okay to be friends with him or something like that, the scientist would continue to think otherwise even though he might have already unconsciously viewed the other as a friend.

"Dist, Asch, we are going now." Kratos called from the now opened entrance of the Radiaton Gate.

Asch started walking to where Kratos was and Dist turned to Marcel and the returning Evenos. "If you two want, Kaiser Dist R could take the two of you back to Daath first." Marcel flinched slightly at the name of the robot, he had heard from Kratos about the horrible naming skill of the Fontech genius and had experienced it firsthand some time ago, but at least the words 'super', 'ultra', 'gorgeous' or 'beautiful' were not attached to the name of it this time.

"That's fine, Dist, we will just wait here. I need to reseal the door later and it would be troublesome to sneak out of Daath again." The elderly Fon Master sat on one of the larger rocks. "It's not everyday I get to spend my free time outside of Daath and I intend to make full use of it."

"But Fon Master, it's dangerous here, not to mention you might get sick from the cold weather." Marcel reasoned and heard Dist muttered something that sounded like 'another Peony'. Although they had brought some thick cloaks with them once they heard that they were going to the Radiation Gate, he could still feel the cold and he didn't want to make Cantabile angry with him by letting her unofficial father fall ill.

"But I have you and the robot to protect me, right?" His eyes shone with amusement as looked at his two subordinates.

"Rest assure, Fon Master, Kaiser Dist R is very capable of disposing any monsters that dare attack you even if Marcel couldn't be of any help." Dist said proudly.

Marcel threw a dirty glare at Dist for his comment, then he turned to Evenos. "What about the cold?"

"That's why I come prepared." Evenos bent down and retrieved a brown suitcase from behind the rock he was sitting on.

_When did he bring that? _Marcel blinked at the bizarreness of all this when Evenos opened the suitcase and revealed a tea set and some bottles of water.

"Marcel, if I remember correctly, you can cast fire based Fonic Arte, right? And Dist, could you make it so that your robot would shield us from the wind?" Evenos winked at the two stunned Oracle Knights.

"Dist! Stop slacking off, how long are you going to make us wait?" Dist recovered from his stupor at the snarl and turned to see Asch looking at him sourly. Kratos was standing next to the boy looking over at the trio with amusement as he had also heard and saw what the Fon Master just did.

* * *

_Strange._ That's the only word Asch could think of after the adrenaline rush of their previous battle passed. _The monsters here – if they could be even called that – give off the same feeling as the soulless angels on Derris Kharlan. _

He looked down from where they were near the top of the Sephiroth towards the bottom and saw lots of monsters occupying the path leading downwards, but he couldn't feel any life from them at all. Even the pathway itself was strange, being made up of some fossilized bones of some gigantic sized monster. All in all, this whole place felt almost the same as Welgaia.

"What happened here? And why is it so large?" Asch asked, breaking the eerie silence that had fallen between them after their last battle.

Though the question was very vague, Kratos understood what he was asking about. "This place was built during the Dawn Age and several years before the Fonic War, I would think that the bones belonged to monsters that might have undergone mutations due to the intense exposure of the misama and Seventh Fonons here to," he gestured the backbone they were _walking_ on, "acquire this size."

"Seventh Fonon I understand, but miasma can also cause mutation?" Asch asked.

"Hmm..." Dist rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger as he thought about Kratos' words. "We don't know the body structure of every monsters living in this world, not to mention that some might have become extinct before we even get the chance to make a record of them. There might exist some species of monsters back then that instead of having their organisms withering and dying when in contact with the miasma, they underwent mutation."

Kratos nodded. "This place was also sealed off from the outside. There's no food nor water supply and after two thousand years, it's only natural that all that remains are the artificial guardians placed here by the people who built this place."

Asch thought back to the _thing_ he defeated just now. "You mean that wasn't a living thing?"

It was a bit hard to accept the fact that the flexible and seemingly intelligent, at least intelligent enough to attack and defend, _thing_ was not a living monster but something that could be classified as robots. At least the robot he saw just now that Dist claimed proudly and smugly, without prompting, as one of his latest inventions looked like a robot. Though that would explain the lifeless feeling from them, and also the lack of blood and organs when Kratos slashed one of them into two.

He heard Kratos sighed and looked up to see that he had stopped in the middle of the road – a huge backbone – and was facing the direction they came from. He followed his gaze and saw that the scientist was kneeling beside the dead – not dead, but destroyed, seeing as they weren't living things to begin with – bodies of the artificial guardians they just defeated.

_When did he get there? _Asch was quite surprised to see the scientist tens of meters away from them when he was just offering his deduction about the mutated large monsters less than five seconds ago. _I didn't even notice him leaving, was that some kind of technique?_

"We need to hurry." Kratos called out to Dist who had just taken out a toolkit from one of his pockets – _how did he fit that in his small pocket? Is it something like the thing he did to his scythe? - _and looked to be ready to take the already destroyed bodies further apart with his sharp tools.

Despite the strange gleam in the eyes of the scientist, he halted his movement at Kratos' too-calm tone and carefully put his tools back into the kit. "Fine. Could you at least pass me one of the modified wing packs so I can save it for later? And don't say you don't have it with you, I know you are always prepared for stuff like this." Asch then saw the toolkit shrink to the size of a very small box before being put it into the Oracle Knight's pocket.

_So it really is the same as the scythe. _Asch thought as he tried very hard to ignore the pout on the grown man's face. _Seriously, how old is he? Is he going to whine next if Kratos refuses to give him a wing pack?_

He saw the mercenary took out something and threw it to Dist. "It's empty." Kratos said once Dist caught the wing pack and immediately went to work.

During the past four months, apart from basic training, Kratos had also sometimes showed them the gadgets and machines on Derris Kharlan, though mostly it's because Dist asked, more like forced, Kratos to tell him more about the technology – what was it called again? Manatechnology? Magictechnology? – of his planet. Asch was also interested in learning new stuff, but it wasn't his expertise and he could only follow so much when Dist asked Kratos to give them, no, just him, a more thorough explanation of _every_ machines they came across and the theories behind them. Sometimes when it became too much Kratos just grabbed some angels that were passing by and ordered them to stay behind in his stead to answer Dist's never ending questions.

Asch was quite amazed at the scientist to keep up his enthusiasm even when talking to the soulless angels. He understood that Dist was really passionate when it came to machinery – he would have to be blind not to notice that, especially when the man liked to rant about his own work _all the time_ – but no matter how passionate one was at the conversation topic, it just felt so weird to talk to someone without any emotion. Yet it didn't affect the scientist at all, in fact, from Asch's point of view, it looked like he was very used to talking to emotionless beings for some very bizarre reason.

Though he didn't know the details, he knew Dist was working with some of the angels – again, how could he work with such _hollow_ beings? – to modify some of the mana-based gadgets so they could also be used on fonon-based objects. Wing pack was the first thing that was modified as they all agreed that it was a very handy gadget. However, since Dist also had other duties to perform, he only had the time to modify the wing pack and it was only finished during his last visit. But if you ask Asch, that was already very fast and sometimes he just couldn't understand how the Oracle Knight could spare so much time to come to Derris Kharlan at least once per fortnight, wasn't he a Commander? What of his other duties in the Order? And his 'secret' work for Van and Mohs?

Then he remembered that Van could also find the time to visit Baticul at least once a week to train him, and he was the Commandant, the second highest position in the Oracle Knights, under the Grand Maestro. Or maybe it's because his fath- _that man_ wanted him to master his swordsmanship faster and requested for _him_ to come more oft-

"Asch, are you okay?" Asch snapped out of his thought at the question. He looked up from the ground –_ when did I lower my head? - _and saw Dist looking at him with a worried gaze. "Stop thinking of him." Asch widened his eyes at the man's words and only then did he register the dull pain in his palm and realized that he had been unconsciously clenching his fists so tight that the knuckles must have been turning white and blood would have started dripping down if his nails were to dig just a bit deeper into his skin.

"I-" He wanted to say something, anything_,_ but he couldn't think of what to say and instead chose to close his eyes and relaxed his fists.

"Try to breathe in and breathe out slowly." He followed the instructions a few times and felt considerable calmer than before as his rapid heart beat – he didn't even know when it started to beat this fast – became slower.

He opened his eyes to look questioningly at Dist. He didn't want to admit it, but the man had guessed correctly and had helped him take his mind off _that man, _if only temparori-

"I told you to stop thinking about him!" Dist snapped at him.

Asch flinched slightly at the tone and frowned. "How?" He didn't trust himself to say more and so resorted to just wording his question with one word.

"I have seen that look before." Dist whispered.

"Where?" He had a feeling it's not something he should ask the sensitive man but for some reason he couldn't stop his mouth from asking the question.

Without answering the question, Dist turned around and started walking forward again. Asch frowned at being ignored and turned his questioning gaze to Kratos, who had been silently watching the whole exchange between the two of them, for answers. But the auburn haired man just shook his head and Asch got the message that it's something he shouldn't pry. He was about to respect the scientist's privacy and drop the whole thing when he heard the soft words coming from the man that was walking in front of them.

"In the mirror." The words were spoken so softly that if not for the eerie silence surrounding them, Asch wouldn't have heard them at all.

* * *

"Why do we have to fight her!?" Dist shouted over the battlefield and barely dodged another ray of light that was shot his way.

"Guardian!" A green sphere enveloped Kratos and seemingly absorbed the light beams he wasn't fast enough to dodge. "It... is standard procedure." He grunted out as the protective barrier disappear after the light beam stopped raining all over the battlefield.

"What do you mean standard procedure!? If you knew beforehand, then why didn't you warn us?" Kratos flinched inwardly at the accusation. Though to be fair, he himself wasn't a hundred percent sure that they needed to fight the Aggregate Sentience of Light as if they were going to form pacts with Summon Spirits. At least he didn't have to fight Gnome. However, once the words 'prepare yourself' left the mouth of Rem, he scolded himself for forgetting that the pact with Gnome was still intact when he asked him for help. There's also that he never needed to remind his other traveling companions that they needed to fight the Summon Spirits as it was almost assumed knowledge that Summoners had to fight to be acknowledged by the Summon Spirits to form pacts with them.

"If you have the time and strength to scream like a girl, do something productive!" Asch shouted back to the complaining man.

Now that the attack had stopped, Dist was free to walk over to where Asch was standing to give him a piece of his mind. "Why you little-"

"Enough." Kratos snapped at the bickering man and boy. "Focus at the battle and talk later."

"Holy Lance!" The two glared at each other for another split second before both suddenly jumped away and just in time avoided being skewered by several large light spears shooting down from the sky. Then Kratos noticed something's moving behind Dist after the man landed. "Dist! Behind-"

"Reverse Strike!" Even before Kratos finished his warning, Dist was spinning around at a very fast speed and used the momentum to hit a shining globe that was floating behind him with the back of the scythe where the metallic handle met the blade. The globe bounced away from the impact, flying straight to where Kratos was standing.

"Grave Blade!" Kratos slammed his sword hard onto the ground before him like when he was using Fierce Demons Fang. However, instead of making a wide arc of shockwave, pieces of rock were sent flying towards the shiny globe dealing earth-elemental damage to it. Once the ball dropped to the ground, it disappeared. Rem appeared several meters above the ground and started casting.

Asch jumped up high into the air with his sword raised above his head and slashed at the Aggregate Sentience but was repelled by the white aura surrounding Rem the moment she started casting. Asch gritted his teeth and tried to twist his body mid-air so he could lessen the inevitable pain he would feel from the fall. However, before he hit the ground, Kratos was already there to catch the boy and had prevented him from crashing into the ground. "Thanks." Asch muttered quickly and jumped out of the seraph's hold.

"Splash!" Water streams began falling onto the still casting Aggregate Sentience from different angles. However, though the Water Arte did hit and caused some damage, it wasn't enough to stop Rem from finishing her Fonic Arte. "Shining Flare!" Walls of light were suddenly erected on the edge of the field and started closing in on them at high speed. Seeing that there's nowhere to go to dodge the enclosing walls, Kratos once again called out his magic barrier to lessen the damage dealt by the Fonic Arte. However, since Dist was near the edge of the battlefield and very close to the wall of light when it first appeared, he didn't have enough time to call out his own version of magic barrier and was thus hit with the full force of the light-based attack.

Asch didn't do anything to block the attack, though he was standing next to Kratos and within the effective range of Kratos' Guardian, Kratos knew that that wasn't the reason Asch didn't use his own magic barrier. He had been keeping an eye on both Dist and Asch whenever they got into a battle and he had noticed how Asch had been avoiding using any special attacks, like how he had been during their spars in the last four months. He had been hoping that this training trip would break the boy out of this stupid stunt of his, but apparently the boy was too stubborn for his own good.

Once the walls disappeared when they got to the center of the battlefield, Kratos let up his protective barrier and Asch sprinted over to where Rem was floating down to the ground. "Wait!" Kratos shouted to the boy who continued dashing forward and paid him no heed. He wanted to go after the boy but then cursed inwardly as he saw Dist dropping to the ground due to the damage he received from the light spell.

He started preparing for a mid level healing spell and watched Asch slashed at their opponent. "Healing Wind." After Kratos made sure it was enough to make the scientist to be able to at least stand again, he started preparing one of the new Artes he learned while experimenting with his Seventh Fonon. "Nightmare!" Dark purple rings rose from the ground surrounding Rem and momentarily stunning her in place. He rushed to where Asch was still slashing and thrusting randomly at Rem, who though was still stunned in place, wasn't taking much damaged from Asch's unorganized attacks. "Sonic Thrust!" Kratos thrust forward powerfully at the being made of light and knocked her back several meters.

"Asch! Stop being stubborn and use your other attacks!" He snapped at the harshly panting boy next to him.

"No... there's no need... I can do it even without-" Asch didn't get to finish his sentence as Kratos pushed him to the ground. After he recovered from the sudden push, Asch looked up to see another light spear sticking out of the ground he just stood on.

"If you aren't going to fight with everything you have, leave and stop being a burden." Kratos hissed at the boy. Asch flinched at the harsh words of the mercenary, but otherwise didn't do or say anything, not even getting up from the ground. He just sat on the ground and stared at Kratos charging towards Rem who was once again preparing another spell with a dumbfounded expression.

"Brat, he's right, you will only drag us down if you continue to fight like this." Asch turned his head and saw Dist standing next to him, exactly on the spot where the spear of light had just struck leaving behind a golden color Field of Fonons. "You aren't the only one that had to pick up the pieces after being betrayed by someone you once looked up to. By the way, I know you are curious about my occasional boost of speed." He said with a weary smile. "It is because of something the one abandoned me did to me before."

"Wha-" Before Asch could fully register what Dist was trying to tell him, he saw the magic circle on the ground became very bright and flames started dancing on the blade of the scythe. "Blazing Satellite!" He threw the burning weapon forward at the engaged pair. Kratos jumped away just before the attack hit and when the scythe came in contact with Rem, it stopped flying forward and started revolving. Moments later a miniature flare tornado was created by the high-speed spinning weapon with Rem being the center of it taking the full force of the attack.

Before Dist's attack finished, a large glyph appeared underneath Kratos as he started preparing for a Mystic Arte and directed the Fonon of Sound in his body to his sword. When the miniature flare tornado started dying down and the scythe started returning to its owner, Kratos pointed the tip of Last Fencer towards the still recovering Aggregate Sentience.

An intense beam of Seventh Fonon shot forward and impaled Rem's body, holding her in place. He rushed forward and started slashing his opponent with his still glowing weapon. Each of his slashes left behind a line of white light, which was actually condensed Seventh Fonons. "Crush my enemies into nothing!" He raised the sword high above his head and the weapon was suddenly enveloped with so much light that both Dist and Asch had to close their eyes from the brightness. "Divine blade of heaven!" The sword grown in size till it was nearly three times its originally size. "Aurora Conqueror!" He brought it down in a powerful downward slash.

The ground shook when the enlarged blade slammed onto the ground and the Seventh Fonons gathered on the sword to make it look longer and broader started dissipating. After the brightness faded, Rem was lying on the ground unconscious.

* * *

"State your vow." _So they really have the same rule as the Summon Spirits in Aselia, I wonder who copied who. _Kratos mused as he held his gaze with the Aggregate Sentience of Light floating in midair before him.

The form she had taken was a beautiful woman with shoulder length fiery red hair and emerald eyes. She was dressed in a white-almost-shining robe that covered her neck to toe, six feathery wings extended out from her back. Her whole body was shining and continuously emitting light, making the area closest to her very bright. Like a true Seraph_. _Rem was patiently waiting for him to seal the pact. He thought back to his conversation with Evenos and Teodoro five years ago and the semi-vow he told Gnome four months ago before deciding on the words for his vow.

"To avoid harm from befalling those I committed myself to and to create a better future for all, I ask you to grant me your power."

"Accepted." Light that was even more intense than before began radiating from Rem as her form changed and shrank. Then it suddenly shot towards where the pact bracelet was half hidden under the shoulder guard on Kratos' upper arm.

"Huh? Where did she go?" Dist asked.

"The pact bracelet."

"The what?"

Kratos sighed as he knew he would have to answer a lot of questions from the ever curious scientist again and lifted up his shoulder guard to let the other see the pact bracelet.

"This is the pact bracelet?" Dist asked as he examined it.

Kratos nodded and noticed a topaz was embedded in the hole between the letters R, which he now knew to represent Rem, and S, which he guessed to be Shadow and not Sylph, and above the letter O, which he supposed was the initial of Origin.

"So-" Kratos held up a hand and stopped Dist from asking any more questions. Dist didn't say anything after and silently watched as Kratos strolled up to the boy that had been standing in the same spot since before they finished their battle staring at a spot on the ground before him.

"Are you going to throw your life away because of Van?" Kratos asked with a stern but soft voice.

Asch snapped his head up at the question and looked at the man with bewilderment. "Wha- what are you saying!? Of course I am not going to do something stupid like that!"

Kratos narrowed his eyes. "Then why were you doing the exact opposite just now?"

"No!" Asch widened his eyes as he took in the accusation directed at him. "No... I- I was just-!" He lowered his head to stare at the ground between him and Kratos and started shaking his head. "I... I wasn't trying to th- throw my life away! I just- he betrayed me! It's because of him th- that... I'm just trying to start anew..." He stopped shaking his head and glared at Kratos. "I am just trying to step out of his influence!"

"If you really are going to live a new life and step out of his influence, then stop letting your fear of him cloud your judgment, stop letting the thought of him hinder your own survival."

"No! What do you mean my fear of him? I'm not scared of that traitor!"

"Yes. You are scared of him." Kratos returned the boy's glare with his own. "You are scared that using any of his teaching will make you become like him. But you don't realize that not using all you have in your repertoire because of this is exactly the same as you still living under his shadow."

Asch's glare was replaced with a look of surprise and the pace of his breathing started increasing till near the point of hyperventilation as he digested Kratos' words. "I-"

"If you want to show him, show all of us, that you are capable of not being influenced by him every step of your life, make use of everything you know, even those you learned from him, sharpen your skills, create your own style, be it similar to his or not. Show him not only are you not afraid of using everything in your disposal, but you are also going to take what he taught you to the next level and surpass him."

Asch closed his eyes and started doing the breathing exercise Dist taught him a while ago to calm himself down. When he deemed himself calm enough, he opened his eyes to look at Kratos again. He slowly nodded his head, not trusting his voice at the moment and saw the stern look in his new master's eyes softened.

"That was the purpose of this training trip. I wanted you to realise it on your own, but sometimes you also need to learn to rely on others and tell them what's on your mind."

His breath started quickening again, but this time for a different reason. He felt his heart clenched at Kratos' words, but not from sadness. He heard footsteps approaching and shifted his gaze slightly and saw Dist walking up to them. Remembering what the other had told him during the battle, he closed his eyes tightly when he started to feel tears forming in his eyes as he finally realized his own stupidity. He now understood what Kratos had been wanting him to realize in the past four months when he intentionally avoided himself from using any of the moves Van taught him, even going so far as to mess up his movements making his attacks unorganized and easy to read. A stupid mistake that might very well cost him his life.

"It's okay to let it all out."

Asch let out a shaky breath as he opened his eyes and let his tears fall freely from his eyes. However, this time, these weren't tears of anger, sadness nor bitterness, but tears of happiness.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

First thing first, thank you so much for all the reviews! I am not sure why myself, but it seemed last chapter had a better reception than I first thought. Anyway, here's the reply to **patrick the almighty observer**'s questions: yes, there would be a time skip soon. In fact, the official announcement will be in the A/N of the next chapter. As for Arietta, sorry to tell you that no, she won't show up until after the time skip.

About Mithos' last wish, he didn't really say anything like wanting to be in Derris Kharlan after he died, but before the final battle, he did say he wanted to go back to Derris Kharlan with Martel. My thought on the matter was that though Lloyd might want to bury Mithos in Aselia so he could 'see' the new world, he would also want to respect his 'wish' to left Aselia with Derris Kharlan.

I don't know if anyone's going to ask how Asch and Kratos got to Radiation Gate, but for anyone who wants to know, Kratos just set the coordination of destination of the warp in Derris Kharlan to somewhere near the Radiation Gate temporarily... dunno why, but I feel that I should explain that part and not make you guys think that Kratos flew all the way from Daath to Radiation Gate while carrying Asch.

Also, about the interior of the Radiation Gate, I don't know what you guys think, but that large spinal chord that allowed passage from the top to mid level and the large bones sticking out here and there didn't seem normal to me at all, not to mention the cracks here and there... especially when the Absorption Gate looked very normal and grand compared to the Radiation Gate. By the way, the Rem here is based on the one in TOE, at least appearance-wise...

The (new) Artes used in this chapter (in order of appearance):

**Grave Blade** 岩砕剣 _Gansaiken_ – The Earth Elemental variant of Fierce Demon Fang, Kratos can now use it anytime he wants due to his pact with Gnome.

**Reverse Strike** 逆旋破 _Yakusenha_ – Short ranged attack, since Dist still couldn't deal heavy damage with his own version of Sonic Thrust due to his lack of muscle , Kratos thought of an alternative version of the thrusting attack for him that could deal a heavier damage using angular momentum. Though the version used in this chapter only carried half of the strength of the attack as Dist only did a half turn to hit Rem behind him whereas normally he would have to spin a full circle to hit the enemy in front of him.

**Blazing Satellite** 死月爆炎舞 _Shigetsu Bakuenbu_ – Fire/Light FOF change of **Reaper's Satellite **(死月襲顎 _Shigetsushuugaku_ – The scythe was thrown towards the target and upon contact, it stayed and started revolving at high speed, continuously damaging the target for 5s before returning, similar to Colette's Ray Satellite, but with a longer range and duration). A fire tornado was created when the scythe started revolving, attracting nearby enemies and also damaging them.

**Aurora Conqueror** 極光天雷斷 _Kyokkou Tenraidan _– Sound-based attack. Kratos came up with the idea for this attack after noticing that he could temporarily transfer his Seventh Fonons to the things he touched. Think of the first part of the attack as something like the first half of Luke's Lost Fon Drive and the second part as Yuri's 2nd Mystic Arte: 天翔光翼剣 _Tenshou Kouyokuken_ in the PS3 remake of TOV, but with a much smaller ethereal sword. Battle quote: "Crush my enemies into nothing! Divine blade of heaven! Aurora Conqueror!"

The reason that Kratos' Nightmare looked different from Tear's Nightmare was because Tear was only calling forth Lorelei's power with the Fonic Hymn, the proof of his pact with Yulia, whereas Kratos was directly channeling the power of Lorelei using the Seventh Fonon _and_ Lorelei's blood in his body. That's also the reason why he didn't need the Fonic Hymn to activate Lorelei's spell: he doesn't need the pact to call forth Lorelei as he carried a part of Lorelei in his body just by being his descendant.

As for omake... this chapter is already too long, so I decided to put the original omake I planned for this chapter to next chapter.

_Uploaded on 2 June 2013._


	31. The Ugly Truth

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking_

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Chapter 30: The Ugly Truth**

Tower of Rem, an ancient tower that was even older than the Tower of Salvation in Aselia when one compared the two calendar systems, was built at the centre of a mining city that once stood on a small island called Quibi Peninsula. The original purpose of it was to extend to the space and allow passage to another planet in case the Float Project failed and the miasma consumed all of Auldrant. However, the construction halted when the Sephiroth Trees successfully raised the crust in the sky.

Kratos had no idea how the people back then could come up with such a ridiculous idea of building a tower tall enough to reach another planet. Though after he learnt of the link between Derris Kharlan and Auldrant in the past, the idea didn't seem so far-fetched if someone knew of the once very close planet and either thought that it's still there or that there might exist another planet close-by. After all, Derris Kharlan was close enough to Aselia and later Sylvarant and Tethe'alla for the Tower of Salvation to become something like a link between them.

_But right now it's not even a hundredth of the height of the Tower of Salvation. If the Float Project failed, I wonder if they would have enough time to complete the construction of the tower before they all died from prolonged exposure to the miasma or the liquefied mantle swallowed up all the land._ Kratos mused after he entered the tower and saw the huge elevator in the middle. _How long would it take for the elevator to get to the top if they ever finished it?_

After they left the Radiation Gate, though reluctantly, Dist returned to Daath with Evenos and Marcel while he had taken Asch back to Derris Kharlan himself. After some arguing, he had set the destination of the warp to, apart from Yulia City, the only piece of island that wasn't raised to the Outer Land and hadn't sunk into the liquefied mantle using the same technology as Yulia City, and left Derris Kharlan on his own, leaving the still protesting boy behind.

Kratos stared at the long staircase extending upward and sighed inwardly. Althouh he wouldn't feel that much tired, it's still tedious to walk from the bottom to the top of the tower. Sure, the elevator was still working for some strange reason, but he didn't know where Shadow was exactly and thus had to search every part of the tower, and the elevator didn't look like it could stop on every floor. He could fly, but it would waste a lot of mana as the tower was still very high.

He was about to step onto the staircase and began his search for the Aggregate Sentience of Darkness when he suddenly heard a loud voice resounding in the tower. "Huh? Someone visiting? And what's that? Such a nostalgic feeling... wait, Lorelei's descendant?"

Kratos looked around to search for the source of the voice but couldn't find it for it sounded like it was coming from everywhere at the same time. Then he resorted to the most straight forward method to seek out the owner of the voice. "Shadow! I need your power to help the people on De- _Sehi Laptilus_!"

"Heh, so she really did it." The sound became more concentrated and Kratos directed his gaze to a point somewhere on the staircase where the now concentrated voice came from.

Black mist started gathering and moments later the figure of a man walking down the staircase was formed. "Oh sweet, you already have a pact with Gnome and Rem." Shadow said with a look of delight as he continued descending the stairs, then the look turned a bit apologetic. "Well, sorry to give you the bad news after you took the trouble to come here to look for me, but I can't form a pact with you."

"What do you mean?" Kratos asked the man that was very different from his expectation of one of the two most powerful Aggregate Sentiences on Auldrant.

Although the Shadow of Aselia was based on this man, they looked nothing alike. Whereas the Summon Spirit of Darkness didn't talk much and phrased all of his sentences with one word only, the Aggregate Sentience of Darkness talked like a normal, if not a bit cheerful, man. The one in Aselia looked like a big black slime with the shape of s man while the one before him didn't look like a sentinel being at all, if one omitted the powerful aura – one that seemed to Kratos to be even more powerful than Rem – that was radiating from his body and the dark mist swirling around him.

The form Shadow had taken was a young man who looked to be in his mid twenties. And, if Kratos were to comment on his appearance, he would say that the Aggregate Sentience of Darkness looked like the evil twin of Mithos in his adult form. The reason for that was that some of the only differences between the two were the slightly curly hair and black full body suit of Shadow as opposed to the long straight hair and white full body suit of Mithos. The other differences being the equally black cape and shoulder guard Shadow was wearing.

"Well, you see, if you want t- huh?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at Kratos once he came to within five meters of the angel and stopped walking. "That's... not normal. What have you done to your body?"

Kratos arched an eyebrow at the question. "The mana in my body is being converted to Seventh Fonon, if that's what you are asking."

"No, not that, that's normal. I am asking about the abnormal thing that's happened to your body."

Kratos narrowed his eyes at Shadow. "I consider having the life energy I was born with being converted to another from of energy quite abnormal. You need to be more specific with your question."

"Right, then... how old are you?"

Kratos nearly did a double take at the seemingly random question. _H- how? No, wait, Gnome also once said I don't feel like a distant relative of Lorelei... maybe that's the case here too. _"Older than I look."

Shadow frowned at the answer. "Of course you are older than you look. What I want to know is exactly how long it was since you stopped aging."

Although Kratos was surprised, he had been somewhat expecting it, and so the only indication he was surprised was an arched eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"What? I am the most powerful existence on Auldrant, at least give me some credit." If Kratos wasn't looking at Shadow the whole time, he would have thought the Aggregate Sentience had just pouted.

"Wait," he paused to reign in his emotions and gather his thoughts, "how do you know my body had stopped aging? And what do you mean the most powerful existence? What about Rem?"

Shadow shrugged. "It's not that big a deal, I can sense that your internal clock is not moving at all, and doesn't seem to have moved for quite some time already. As for being the most powerful Aggregate Sentience... well, I know how lovely and beautiful Rem is and all," his shoulder sagged, "but why does everyone have to think that she is more powerful than me?"

For reasons unknown to Kratos himself, he felt the need to correct Shadow's misunderstanding. "I didn't think she is more powerful than you. I thought you two had the same amount of strength as that's what one would normally expect for the Aggregate Sentiences with opposing elements."

"That and you don't act like a powerful being at all." Kratos and Shadow turned their gaze to the just appeared Gnome.

Shadow raised his hand to greet the Aggregate Sentience of Earth. "Hey, Gnome, glad to see that you are doing well after so long."

Gnome lightly dipped his head to return the greeting. "Likewise, and I see that your behaviour is even more... human-like than when I last saw you. But enough for that, I am also curious about the reason you called yourself the most powerful Aggregate Sentience. Last time I checked, you and Rem were still equals, did something happen to you or to her that time?" He didn't need to elaborate what 'that time' was, as it was clear as day that he was referring to the time when Lorelei became the Aggregate Sentience of Sound.

"Both." He paused as he thought of how and where to begin the explanation. "How much do you know?" He directed the question to Kratos.

"Enough." Kratos answered.

Gnome nodded. "I have told him the plan."

"Great, that saves time." Shadow clapped his hands at the others' reply. "Well, first I will tell you what happened to her. Something went wrong when we created the Summon Spirits of Light and Darkness and more power was ripped off from Rem than from me."

"Is that the reason why there are two Summon Spirits of Light and only one Summon Spirit of Darkness?" Kratos asked, thinking about the uneven number of the Summon Spirits of opposite nature.

Both Gnome and Shadow looked at Kratos weirdly after he voiced his question. Gnome was already put to sleep and didn't witness the creation of the Summon Spirits of Light and Darkness and thus was a bit surprised to learn that there was more than one Summon Spirit of Light. But for Shadow, it was due to a different reason. "What are you talking about? There are two Summon Spirits of Light and _two_ Summon Spirits of Darkness."

Kratos recalled hearing about the Summon Spirit of Death from Gnome and came to the conclusion that the second Summon Spirit of Darkness must have suffered the same fate. However, before he could make any comment on it, Shadow was already muttering to himself. "I see, so maybe that's the reason... but then..." he gasped and there's a look of horror on his face, "Rem..."

The other two waited patiently for Shadow to finish whatever thought was on his mind. The silence lasted for nearly a whole minute before the horrified look on Shadow disappeared and he opened his mouth. "There are two Summon Spirits for Light and Darkness each, but that wasn't the original plan. Only Luna and Shadow," he paused and made a face, "the _other_ Shadow, it's so confusing when they have the same names as us except for Rem... anyway, something went wrong and Aska was accidentally created. To keep the balance, we decided to create another Summon Spirit of Darkness, Karas, but something went wrong _again_, and Karas ended up as a Summon Spirit of Darkness that also had the element of Light in her. We didn't realize it until after _Sehi La_- Derris Kharlan drifted away and Rem had a fit about more of her power was ripped off-"

"I did _not_ have a fit." A new female voice joined the conversation and they turned to see the fiery haired Seraph looking at them with a neutral expression, but the slight raise in her sentence already betrayed her irritation.

"Hey there love, I was wondering when you are going to join us. And yes, you _had _a fit, you are even pissed off now just because I mentioned it."

There was a slight twitch of Rem's eyebrow at the mention of 'love', but otherwise she still looked to be expressionless as she turned to Kratos. "I apologize for the behavior of _that_-" "Hey!" "- it is true that I didn't realize I had given more power to make the Summon Spirits and some of those extra power went to Aska while the rest went to Karas. Since I was on the verge of losing consciousness, I wasn't able to tell that some of my elemental energy was hidden within the Dark-elemental mana that surrounded Karas. If you haven't heard of Karas before, then I believe that the elemental imbalance of her body had eventually led to the end of her existence."

She then glared at Shadow. "_Please_ finish your own explanation." And disappeared again.

"It seems her hatred for you has increased in the past four and a half millenniums." Gnome commented.

Shadow shrugged. "Can't be helped, I was partly responsible for the creation of Karas and she has this grudge thinking that I indirectly gave some of her power to the second Summon Spirit of Darkness. And there's also the fact that Karas isn't here anymore so she can't get her power back. Oh well, for the second part of why I am more powerful than her-" He suddenly jumped to his left and narrowly dodged a light beam shooting down at him. "Geeze Rem, stop being so childish!" He cried out frustratingly. There wasn't any reply from the Aggregate Sentience of Light.

"Fine, be that way." Shadow shook his head before redirecting his gaze to the two in front of him. "For that something that happened to me, it was during the tuning of Lorelei's fonon frequency, you know that part, right?"

"I have told him that you were the one to change Lorelei's fonon frequency to the desired value so it could mix with mana." Gnome replied.

Shadow nodded. "The simplest explanation is that I accidentally took in some mana."

"You mean you also have Seventh Fonon in your body?" Kratos asked.

"Not really, I only took in mana." The dark mist swirling around his body started dispersing and Kratos felt the distinct feeling of mana radiating from the being before him. "You have pure mana? Won't that affect your body?"

"Unfortunately, yes, and there isn't any way to expel the mana from me, it is too interlaced with my fonon by the time we noticed that." The swirling dark mist returned and the feeling of mana disappeared again. "Pluto and Orign had to help change the form of my body to contain the mana in me."

"So that's why you looked different. I thought you were just changing your style."

Shadow crossed his arms at Gnome's words and pouted. "No way I am voluntarily changing my appearance to _this_, I looked way cooler before than this half elven form."

"Who is Pluto and what do you mean by half elven form?" Kratos asked.

"Pluto is the Summon Spirit of Death, you don't know him? That's weird... anyway," he tucked his hair behind his ear to show the others the slightly pointy ear, "my body structure had to be changed to one that resembles an elf to let the mana become a natural part of me. And before you ask, we can't do the whole changing the mana into Seventh Fonon thing in me as I am a being made of pure First Fonon. Naturally, Origin alone could do the body reconstruction, but then we also need Pluto's power to balance Origin's power as any Aggregate Sentience or Summon Spirit isn't supposed to hold more than their own power, you see what happened to Karas when she had more than one, and her elemental opposite to boot, in her."

He smiled as he raised a hand to chest level with his palm facing upward and dark mist started gathering on it. The mist swirled and became a sphere of darkness. "I guess you can say that this dark mist that is following me everywhere is a 'gift' from Pluto." He closed his hand into a fist and the black sphere dispersed. "So in summary, apart from Rem losing more power than me when creating the Summon Spirits, I also gained some power from both Origin and Pluto and thus became the most powerful Aggregate Sentience and naturally the most powerful existence on Auldrant."

"So that's why you can feel the passage of time." Kratos commented, finally understanding why a being of Darkness could tell that his internal clock had stopped. "What about the power imbalance?"

"Well, from what I sensed from her just now, it seems Rem has already recovered most of her power she used to help with the creation of Luna, just like the other Aggregate Sentiences." Shadow grinned at Gnome. "And Gnome here seems to have already recovered all his lost power thanks to the pact he has with you. So I guess Rem will also make a full recovery soon, especially now that she has a pact with you. I don't know the others, but I think they should still be sleeping. You see, I have to separate myself from the rest of the world to prevent the power imbalance from consuming the world. You notice that it is very dark in the Qliphoth and even darker in the Tower of Rem, right? That's because I am here."

Kratos had thought that Qliphoth was dark because there's neither sunlight nor moonlight and it's only natural for the Tower of Rem to be even darker because it's very far away from Yulia City, the only source of light in the Qliphoth. But then he thought it made sense that Shadow chose to stay here. If it's already this dark and nobody would likely visit this place, then no one would notice that it had become even darker than before due to Shadow's presence. However, there's still one problem with that logic.

"This place only became the Qliphoth two thousand years ago, but the power imbalance should have been present since four thousand and five hundred years ago." Kratos pointed out.

Shadow sighed. "Yes, I had to move constantly to not let a single place beaome too dark due to my prolonged presence and that was soooo troublesome." He paused and had this look on him that reminded Kratos of a child doing something naughty and was finally caught by his parents. "Last time I stayed too long at one place and the people living nearby started going all crazy because of the darkness that not even sunlight could penetrate and err... I guess the feeling of death emitted by this dark mist caused them to become very sad and wanted to commit suicide or brought out their darkest desire and made them want to kill others and... I... I think in a way I indirectly started the war just by staying near humans for too long..."

Silence fell between the trio as Shadow's words sank in. Then after a while, the sad and guilty look on the Ruler of Darkness was replaced by a considerably more cheerful look, though the tenseness of the atmosphere still remained. "You have no idea how glad I was when the Float Project succeeded and indirectly created a whole realm for me to stay in without causing trouble."

"And you also don't have to worry about you going crazy or something like that." Shadow added after he noticed the look on Kratos. "You have a pact with Rem, the pact bracelet that once held the proof of pact for Pluto and you also once housed Origin in your body-" Kratos raised an eyebrow at that, "it's obvious that Origin had been inside you before, there's still have a tiny bit of his energy left in your body even though you don't know it. So basically, you have triple protection against the energy emitted by this death cloak."

Kratos nodded, relieved at Shadow's reassurance that he wouldn't have to face his darkest desire just by standing next to him. "You can't leave this place and thus can't form a pact with me."

The blond part-Aggregate-Sentience-part-elf nodded. "So, I know that Karas isn't here anymore and it seems for some strange reason Pluto isn't too, but is Aska still here? Rem wanted to get back the extra power she lost. I mean, if there's only one Summon Spirit of Darkness left, you don't need two Summon Spirits of Light, right?"

Kratos glared at Shadow as he finally understood what all this was about, what Shadow was talking about when he first said 'she really did it'. "Are you saying that you are the reason Derris Kharlan was trapped here when it was supposed to be drifting in space?"

"Woah, no need to be so angry, we just wanted to get back the power for Rem to solve the power imbalance problem. And it wasn't me, Rem was the one in the Radiation Gate manipulating the Planet Storm so that Derris Kharlan would eventually drift back and lock to orbiting Auldrant."

Shadow said those words to justify the reason of them luring Derris Kharlan back, hoping to make Kratos drop that glare of his. However, that just made Kratos angrier, no, angry wasn't enough to describe what he was feeling now, he was _furious_. "Do you have any idea how many people are going to suffer just because you want an easy way out of this petty problem of yours when you can just solve it by continue staying here?" The death glare he was sending to the Aggregate Sentience of Darkness just intensified ten folds.

"Wh- what?" Shadow blinked at the livid man before him and also noticed a look of disappointment on Gnome, something he didn't think the Aggregate Sentience of Earth was capable of.

* * *

"I regret to tell you that that won't be possible, pact maker." Rem said, although she still looked to be expressionless, Kratos knew she was very sorry about this whole mess and regretted it from her apologetic tone and the guilt in her eyes. Kratos was still very angry at the two Aggregate Sentiences, but he also understood that it was their job to rectify the problem of their own world and it wasn't like they knew of the bigger problem they would cause to the angels on Derris Kharlan beforehand.

After he and Gnome had informed Shadow of the crisis the people on Derris Kharlan would face in the not long future and had filled him in on the major happenings on Derris Kharlan and Aselia, the three of them started discussing about the actions that could be taken to avert said crisis. Since the conversion rate also depended on the amount of Seventh Fonon in the environment, Gnome suggested that they let Derris Kharlan drift off again to stall for more time for Kratos to successfully replicate the required amount of Rune Crests. However, Rem appeared immediately after the suggestion was made and told them the bad news.

"When the existence of the Seventh Fonon was discovered by humans two thousand years ago, they proposed the Planet Storm to further increase the fonon activity in the world, making it possible for people to use more powerful fonic artes and further their technology using what they now call fontech. However, what they didn't know was that the activation of the Planet Storm caused the core to vibrate, the mantle to liquefy and the miasma to plague the whole world. What Shadow said about me manipulating the Planet Storm to trap Derris Kharlan was only half of the truth. The other half was that Lorelei was forced to stay inside the core after his quest to convert all the mana in the world to Seventh Fonon was completed to regulate the Planet Storm in such a way to prevent the vibration of the core from becoming too violent and destroy the whole planet."

Shadow blinked. "I didn't know that part."

"That's because you never left the Tower of Rem, a tower named after _me, _not you." Rem said with a slightly irritating tone.

Shadow pouted_. _"It isn't like I have a choice."

Kratos had a feeling of deja vu watching the exchange between the Aggregate Sentiences before him. He could easily see the resemblance between the personalities of the Elemental Summon Spirits and the Aggregate Sentiences, but the elements were all mixed up. The Gnome here felt like Undine, the Shadow here was like a toned-down Gnome and Effreet combined and Rem had a personality like Celsius and one of the three fairies that made up Sylph. What next? A Sylph that only ever spoke with one-worded sentence?

Kratos mentally shook his head to rid himself of the silly thoughts, he had more pressing matters at hand. "So the only way to allow Derris Kharlan leave Auldrant is to either stop Lorelei from regulating the Planet Storm and let this planet be destroyed by the violently vibrating core or to stop the Planet Storm and thus remove the Sephiroth Tree and destroy the Outer Lands." Neither of the method was plausible: he was here to save the planet and the people in it, not destroy it.

Kratos knew as much about the part of Lorelei doing something to the Planet Storm leading to Derris Kharlan's predicament when he learnt of the Score's prediction of him as told by Evenos and Teodoro. He had thought he would be able to unlock Derris Kharlan from its current course after he had helped Lorelei do whatever it was that could break the world out of the Score's invisible chain. However, now that Rem had shared with him the real reason behind it, he realized it might as well be impossible for Derris Kharlan to leave Auldrant ever again.

And to think one of the reasons he was dragged to this planet along with Derris Kharlan and all the angels on it was so that the Aggregate Sentience of Light could correct a mistake she accidentally made and only discovered after the planet left and restored the power balance between her and Shadow, even when they had been doing fine for the past four and a half millenniums and when Lorelei's original plan was to sever the ties between the two planets as even he didn't and wouldn't want to know what would happen to Derris Kharlan and the elves on it if all the mana were to become Seventh Fonon.

This was becoming messier the deeper he got, he was glad he now know the truth as he needed it to work on some of the things he had to do, but at the same time he also didn't want to know it. However, no matter how messed up all this was and how much rage he was in right now, he reigned in his emotions. He had better things to do than succumb to anger, especially when he told Asch to stop wallowing in grief and bitterness just hours ago.

"What about the method I just suggested?" He asked

The plan he and Dist cooked up was to hasten the conversion of the only available Rune Crest in their possession by taking it to the Radiation Gate and expose it to more Seventh Fonon. Then they would use fomicry on the fully converted Rune Crest and make enough replicas of it for all the angels in Derris Kharlan. After that came the part where they required the assistance of Rem. Since Rem was the one that mixed the Seventh Fonon and mana together in the first place, they would have Rem inject and mix mana into the replicas of Rune Crest.

Once there was enough mana in the replicas, they would have Shadow change the fonon frequency into something that was not Seventh Fonon, preferably to one that was the same as one of the three Aggregate Sentiences so they could easily extract the fonons from the replicas, leaving behind Rune Crests that were made of pure mana. Then they would do the same to the Cruxis Crystals the angels were equipping. It wouldn't do to have Seventh Fonon in the Cruxis Crystal when they attached the Rune Crest to it as they didn't know what effect that would have.

"It seems fine to me... except the part about maintaining the forms and functions of the Rune Crests while the fonons are being extracted from them... it would be much easier if Origin is here, but I will see what I can do with the little bit of power Origin gave me. But there's still a problem..." He turned to the Aggregate Sentience of Light beside him. "Rem, do you have enough power for that?"

Rem threw a dirty glare at Shadow before directing her gaze at Kratos. "The plan sounds plausible to me. However, as reluctant as I am to agree with Shadow, I still haven't recovered enough strength to perform the required task."

Kratos let out a defeated sigh, he should have guessed it wouldn't be this easy.

"Hey, don't be so sad, we just have to wait till Rem recovers enough strength for the job, and trust me, it won't be long now that you have a pact with her even if it would still be a long time till she makes a complete recovery. In the meantime, we can do the part about me changing the fonon frequency of the Seventh Fonon in the Cruxis Crystals to the Sixth Fonon and have Rem extract them. This way we can both hasten Rem's recovery and slow down the conversion rate."

"I thought you said you can't leave here?" Gnome asked.

"Well, about that part," he glanced at Kratos, "if the only people living in Derris Kharlan right now are those soulless beings that don't have an inch of desire within them and can also see in total darkness like you, do you think it's okay for me to stay there from now on? At least till Rem recovers enough strength and becomes closer to me power-wise that is."

Kratos shrugged as he tried to hide the hope he was feeling at Shadow's plan and agreement to lengthen the time it took for the Cruxis Crystals to lose all their mana. Deep down, he was still angry at the Aggregate Sentiences of Light and Darkness, but he was also grateful to hear the eagerness of Shadow to correct the foolish mistake he and Rem made. And although Rem didn't say anything, he knew that the Aggregate Sentience who was glaring dagger at Shadow at the power comment he made was also regretting the trouble their selfishness had indirectly caused, even though they shouldn't have to take the full responsibility as it was also Lorelei's doing, and he was doing it also to prevent the destruction to Auldrant and so shouldn't be faulted either.

However, he knew he couldn't just bring Shadow to Derris Kharlan right now, at least not till he found a way to persuade Asch to go back to Auldrant every once in a while. It wouldn't do to have the only just now started to recover from his own traumatic experience boy to stay near Shadow for too long. He didn't want to even begin imagining what Asch's darkest desire would make him do. Apart from Asch, he also needed to let Dist know and understand that he couldn't come to Derris Kharlan as often as he had in the past three months.

* * *

**~ Omake: Having Tea with His Boss ~**

"You are quite good at controlling your fonic arte." Evenos commented and took a sip from the cup of steaming hot tea in his hands.

Several minutes ago, Marcel had managed to cast a small fire spell on the firewoods he gathered and later dried to make them possible to keep the fire burning. They had used the fire to boil the water to make tea and now the fire was still burning to keep them warm. The huge robot of Dist was shielding them from the strong wind effectively preventing the fire from going out due to the wind and keeping them warm.

"Umm... thanks." Marcel fidgeted.

He was both a bit embarrassed at the praise and a bit uncomfortable at having to spend time with the Fon Master alone. True, it was an Oracle Knight's duty to protect their Fon Master and normally one should be honored for being chosen to do the job. But Evenos wasn't just his boss, to Marcel, Evenos was also the foster father of his girlfriend. Though he and Cantabile weren't keeping their relationship from Evenos, they had only been dating for several months. Who in their right mind would be able to get all comfortable spending time with their girlfriend's father without a third party present? Worse, Marcel was sure that Evenos hadn't fully acknowledged him as Cantabile's lover.

_She must be doing that on purpose._ Marcel thought as he resisted the urge to fidget more at the seemingly calm appearance on Evenos as he enjoyed his tea.

Though Evenos was careful not to show how worthy he thought Marcel was to be Cantabile's lover to her, Cantabile would have to be blind not to notice the tension, subtle it might be, between the two males. Marcel was pretty sure that it was Cantabile's plan to let him spend some _quality time_ with her unofficial father to settle the whole getting-the-father's-approval thing. But then he supposed it's only fair since Cantabile already went through a similar thing with his sister... but then Giselle wasn't in opposition to their relationship to begin with...

"I will get straight to the point." Marcel snapped his attention to the Fon Master the moment the words left his mouth. "I don't approve of your relationship with Cantabile."

Marcel swallowed his nervousness and despair at the finality of Evenos' declaration and suddenly felt very determined to make the Fon Master change his opinion about him.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

First thing first, thanks for the reviews my lovely readers! I know it's a long time since I last responded to my reviewers... but here you go:

**splitheart1120** – Right, if Asch managed to get over the whole being ripped by his past thingy, there would be a major attitude change and he wouldn't become the Asch we all know.

**patrick the almighty observer** – Glad to see you have such high expectation for this fic. Now I am getting really nervous about the storyline I have already come up with not being able to satisfy the high expectation... but rest assure, I will try my best to make it as interesting as possible^^

**1412 karsu** – Wow, just wow, thanks so much for pointing out the grammatical error. After reading your review, I vaguely recalled someone telling me the same thing before, I mean my tendency to overuse the word 'get'... but it's been so long since I last had an English lesson that sometimes I just use the spoken part of the language when I write... yeah... such poor English... anyway, glad to see you love this fic even though you haven't played TOA before. Truth be told, there are people I know in real life that read this fic just because I am the one writing it, but they haven't played the games before ^^" so I intentionally write it in such a way that people with no prior knowledge of TOS and TOA can understand what's going on.

Another chapter with lots of explanation and answers to the mystery between the two planets... for those that haven't guessed yet, Shadow's appearance was based on Sekundes of TOE (I even carelessly typed the name Sekundes instead of Shadow a few times while typing this chapter), though he behaved like Peony... can't be helped, I like Peony and sadly he won't show up that often in my fic (*sigh* an Emperor couldn't just leave their country to go on some adventure... unlike Woodrow of TOD...), so to make it up, a Shadow with his personality was born. Can you feel the love between Rem and Shadow? There's no Celsius in Auldrant and we couldn't have the Celsius-Efreet interaction here, so Rem and Shadow here took their place as the love/hate pair ^^

About Shadow having a body structure similar to a half elf, well, I figured that if Ratatosk/Emil had one that resembled a human being, even allowing Emil to become Marta's lover, why not make it so that the Aggregate Sentience can also had their body reconstructed to one similar to that of a half elf?

As for Lorelei being trapped inside the core, it was mentioned in the game when he possessed Tear's body. He asked Luke to set him free from the prison of this eternal cycle. He also said something about being trapped in the core. The only explanation I can come up with is that Lorelei was trapped there due to the Planet Storm (Tear did say that the Key of Lorelei was cast down into the core once the Planet Storm was formed). Then Lorelei was again trapped due to Van performing large scale Fomicry ripping too much Seventh Fonon from him making it impossible for him to escape without any outside help even after the vibration of the core stopped. The vibration of the core stopped _before_ Van trapped Lorelei in his body, so there had to be another reason for him not being able to escape and I blame it on Fomicry weakening Lorelei immensely and later allowing Van to fully trap him inside his body. Well, at least in my fic that's the reason for all this.

I know the omake was short and seemed incomplete... but I don't really want to write how a guy get the approval of his girlfriend's father for two reasons. One being that I am a girl and not very into romance stuff so I don't know how to write something like that, and the other reason... well, let's just say that it's a secret for the time being^^ Though I am sure some of you might have already guessed what the second reason is.

The last thing I want to say in this A/N is that... umm... I don't really want to break the sad news to you, but next chapter will be the epilogue. I originally intended to skip the seven years between the time when Asch left Baticul and the start of the game events. I already extended this fic by two chapters (short, I know...) to make the story looks more complete by concluding it with Kratos finding a way to solve his own problem. The reason I am skipping the next seven years is that there are things I want to keep a secret and make it a surprise when it's finally revealed in the sequel.

I might put up some one-shots about the happenings in the time-skip once it won't become a spoiler for the sequel anymore. I haven't even thought of the name of the sequel yet but I have already written the outline of the first few chapters of it. I intend to post the epilogue of this story and the prologue of its sequel at the same time. So stay tuned for the last chapter for Fonic Interruption which will be on 17 June (right, that's the one year anniversary of this fic!)

_Uploaded on 10 June 2013._


	32. Breaking Out Of A Caged Life

Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

_- Character thinking, _Character Reading

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

* * *

**Epilogue: Breaking Out of a Caged Life**

After a long wait, Asch finally resumed his training under Kratos. Ever since the auburn haired angel returned from the Tower of Rem, he was occupied with whatever it was he and Dist had been planning to use the power of the Aggregate Sentience of Light and Darkness for, leaving Asch to train on his own. His new master might not be able to train him, but he wasn't complaining. He understood the importance for Kratos to find a way to restore humanity to the angels.

He for one wasn't good at all the technological stuff, well, he knew the basics, but even the basics he knew about fonic artes and fontech wouldn't be able to help him understand the magitechnology used in Derris Kharlan. He was content letting the others figure out the technical part and help out when he was needed, like when Kratos took him to the Radiation Gate, though that time he was more of a burden than anything else...

He was told that he couldn't stay in Derris Kharlan for however long he wanted anymore. From his understanding, the Aggregate Sentience of Darkness had the power to draw out one's darkest desire if a person spent too long near him, except Kratos and the angels. The former having some form of protection due to his other pacts or something similar and the later didn't have an ounce of desire in them at all.

He hated to admit it, but it's true that he's very weak in the psychological department currently, and so he had reluctantly agreed to leave Derris Kharlan till Kratos had the time to resume their training. Fortunately, Kratos had once helped out a group of homeless people and when their leader, a young woman that seemed to only be around twenty years old, heard that Kratos needed someone to look after his student, she welcomed him with open arms.

Although Asch hated to be looked down at – he was nearly eleven years old and could take care of himself – he couldn't help but form a bond with Noir and her people. After all, though the situation was different, they were both abandoned by the world and had to find a new place to live. Therefore, Asch had been helping out with the construction of their new home in northwestern Radessia in the past three weeks.

He had still taken at least two hours everyday to train. Although Kratos wasn't able to train him yet, he had realized that he needed to do much catching up to get himself back to shape. It wasn't like he had been neglecting his daily exercise since he first went to Derris Kharlan, but he had messed up all his movements just by intentionally avoiding himself from doing anything that resembled Van's teaching. He knew he was foolish when the others pointed it out, but only when he tried to pick up his normal training again did he realize the full extent his foolishness did to his stances.

It had taken him weeks just to get back to the level he had when he was fighting alongside Kratos after he escaped Choral Castle. It was also around that time that Kratos finished whatever it was that he was occupied with and the two could resume their training, only this time it was real training, starting from where his training under Van stopped. This was the third day since Asch came back to Derris Kharlan – they were only here because Kratos said there's something he wanted to monitor in Welgaia and that he didn't want people to see his own training, something about using the power of the Aggregate Sentience would attract too much unwanted attention.

Today was another day of vigorous training and he was totally spent after three hours. Kratos also noticed that he was exhausted and allowed him a forty-five-minute lunch break. He had quickly grabbed some food from the cafeteria – he had thought it strange for this city to have a cafeteria when no one here needed to consume food, but Kratos said that there once were other beings that would come here every now and then to work and the cafeteria was built for them – and went back to the training area.

He was munching on the bread roll and watching Kratos doing some training on his own, something about utilizing his new-found, not really new, considering he came here five and a half years ago, power to create some new artes. He took out the small booklet Kratos had given him when he was first informed about the plan to break the world from the curse of the Score and turned to the page he had bookmarked.

The One Who Would Seize Glory shall bring to the world its greatest hope and despair. He who choose to lead shall have the power to contain and control. Greatest hope of the land and greatest despair of those who walk on it are but two faces of the same coin. The grand finale shall become a curtain painted by the very essence of life and covers the land. Decision to toss the coin upwards or throw it to the ground lies in the song.

The Light of the Sacred Flame shall follow and fall or thrive. Upon sweet nothings and kind words of the precious and treasured, he who choose to follow shall hold half of the cards. The gears of fate of the new and the old shall turn with his choice. The destiny called upon by him shall lead to the greatest fall or triumph.

The Remnant of the Sacred Flame shall rebel and be lost or found. Upon being wounded and healed by the loved and hated, he who choose to rebel shall hold the other half of the cards. His actions not restricted by the rule but the truth behind the mirror. The destiny called upon by him shall lead to the worst ending or the best beginning.

The Dawn of Strength shall decide and be the judge of all. He who shall decide shall not have his right bound. The word of fate barely touches him, to be or not to be falls in his own hands. A being above all, an old partner surrounded by life and death, a rock of creation and destruction. The final judgement shall reflect on the most cherished and least expected.

"Say Kratos." Asch looked up from the little notebook in his hand to the swordsman who was slashing his glowing sword horizontally in the air. "I am not lost, right?"

Kratos stopped his movements and the glow on Last Fencer disappeared. "What do you think?" He turned to look at Asch who was deep in thought.

"I'm not sure... I don't even know if being lost means I am lost to the Fabre family... but here it also says that you are the judge of all... does that mean that I am not lost because I was found by you?"

"I can't tell you the answer to that." He sheathed the Last Fencer. "This Score, or should I say prophecy, is still very vague. And even if we understand the meanings behind it, there might still be a chance that it won't come true."

Asch blinked at Kratos' reply. "It won't?"

"It might not." Kratos walked over to where Asch was having his lunch and sat down next to him. "I have been thinking about this since I was first told about the existence of this prophecy." He paused as he pondered his next words. "Yulia and Lorelei foretold this prophecy hoping that it would help us overthrow the Score, so that people won't live a determined life anymore. But don't you think it weird to overthrow a Score with another Score?"

Asch thought about the others' words. It's true that it didn't make sense to follow another Score after they rejected the original one. It was like they still couldn't do anything apart from living according to the Score's guidance. Before he could make any comment, Kratos continued talking. "If we rely too much on this prophecy to prevent the destruction of the world as predicted in another Score, then what next? Do we find a way to come up with yet another new Score to guide our lives?"

Kratos took the book from Asch and pointed at the last two passages. "Your action and mine are not restricted by the Score so we shouldn't worry too much about doing what is and what is not written. I realized it too late and now I have to face the consequence."

"What consequence?"

"You. From this prophecy, Van would be the one to carry out the plan and I am supposed to have the role of an observer, at least until his plan started. The result is I let him rip you away from your past when I could have become your teacher right from the beginning."

Asch frowned, he thought they were over this already. "But you said it yourself we needed my replica. Though I still don't like it and might regret it in the future, it is because of what happened that I could live a life apart from the Score. I told you before that I don't blame you. And you found a way to correct it the moment you had the chance."

Kratos shook his head. "Anyway, what I am saying is that now that all the players are gathered, we shouldn't rely on this prophecy too much, if at all, anymore. It wouldn't do to break ourselves from the Score's clutches only to fall into another cage right away."

Asch smiled. "Right. I am going to live a new life, a life that's not bound by anything."

Kratos returned his newest student's smile with one of his own smile. "Hurry up and finish your lunch, we will resume our training in another ten minutes."

* * *

**~ Omake: Best Gift of the Day ~**

Peony looked around to take note of the people that came to see his crowning ceremony. He searched through the crowd and saw Nephry standing next to her husband. He felt something tighten in his chest and quickly averted his gaze to look at others.

He saw out of the corner of his eye the young boy who he heard to have become the new Fon Master a little over an year ago in one of the suites on the second floor. Dear Lorelei, Peony could tell even from this distance that the child and the pink haired girl beside him, which had to be the Fon Master Guardian, were only about twelve years old. He glanced briefly at the suite occupied by the people from the Order of Lorelei before looking back to the crowd cheering before him.

_So he didn't come, I should have expected that. _It was obvious Saphir wouldn't come, they still hadn't hit the eleven year mark yet and he could still be arrested if someone noticed him in Malkuth territory. But it's been so long since Peony last saw and teased his friend.

He heard that Saphir had become the the Commander of the Second Division in the Oracle several years ago and had thought that the man would at least show up in Grand Chokmah acting as one of the bodyguards for the Fon Master, especially when the Fon Master Guardian was so young herself. Being a Locrian Colonel didn't automatically erase his criminal status in Malkuth, but at least he was so high up that the Fon Master and the Grand Maestro could simply bail him out and take him back to Daath if he was arrested in Malkuth.

* * *

_I thought I knew what I had to go through, but apparently I underestimated how tiring the crowning ceremony can be... _The newly appointed Emperor let out a tired sigh as he dragged his exhausted body back to his quarters below the throne room. He nearly jumped onto the bed in joy when he entered his room.

_It's at least ten times more troublesome than the one I went through when I became the Crown Prince._ He thought as he lied on his bed staring at the ceiling of his room.

"Greetings, and congratulations, Emperor of Malkuth."

Peony quickly jumped out of the the bed in alarm and looked around, all the tiredness disappeared. His gaze finally fell on a man standing before the door, the same one that he entered the room through, and cursed himself for not noticing the stranger earlier. Throughout his life, Peony had dealt with quite a number of assassins, but this man before him didn't feel like one, what with his sheathed sword and relaxed stance. Maybe that's why he hadn't shouted for the guards yet, though he was still edging closer to the window so he could escape if need be.

"Who are you?" Peony asked as he gazed sharply at the man. The intruder had wild red hair, wore purple and-

"No one of consequence. I am merely a messenger." The man said and promptly cut off Peony's thought.

Peony raised an eyebrow and decided to go along if the man wanted to remain anonymous. "Of who?" He asked.

Instead of answering Peony's question, the man handed something to him.

Peony blinked. In the man's hand was a stuffed rappig doll. The doll was quite big, though it wasn't as big as a real rappig, it was nearly the size of a normal pillow. It was in a lying position, a position most fitted for one to use it as a cushion or a pillow. Around it's neck was a sky blue colored collar, Peony's favorite color. The doll was so well made that if it wasn't for the fact that it was a stranger, a male to boot, handing it out to him as if it was a present, he would have hugged it tightly to him the moment he saw it.

"I know I have many admirers, but I am sorry to tell you that I don't go for guys."

"As I said, I am but a messenger. This is from one of your... 'admirers' as you put it." Somehow Peony thought he saw laughter in the man's eyes as he said the word 'admirers'.

"How do I know it isn't something that would explode in my face the moment I touch it?" Peony asked suspiciously. He didn't think the man before him would harm him, but the possibility wasn't zero.

"You don't." The man said casually. "In that case I will take it back to the sender and let him know that someone isn't as stupid as he believes." That caught Peony's attention, but before he could say anything, the man continued. "I am also to relay his message to you: try not to doom this country with your idiocy."

Peony had an idea of who the sender was when he heard the first comment and the message just confirmed his suspicion. He snatched the doll from the man's still outstretched arm before he could take it back. He started examining the doll and when he turned it around, he saw the words 'Stupid Prince of Keterburg' on the collar.

Peony grinned the 'stupid grin' as dubbed by the only one who dared to continuously throw insults after insults to the Crown Prince, now Emperor of Malkuth. He then realized something and looked up to see the man looking at him amusingly. "So you are the one?"

The man raised an eyebrow at Peony's out of the blue and vague question. "If you are asking what I am thinking, then yes."

"Thanks." Peony said.

"I will relay your message back then."

"No, I was thanking you. And if it isn't too much trouble, There's something I want you to deliver for me."

The man nodded . Peony grinned again, this time not the 'stupid grin', but a 'devilish grin'.

* * *

Dear Saphir,

Thanks so much for the gift! Now there's something for me to hug when I sleep! Such a thoughtful gift~ 

I knew you could stitch but sometimes I just forgot that you are actually a girl and can be soooo swe-

"That. Stupid. Idiotic. Good for nothing. Pervert!" Dist screamed and furiously tore the small note that was attached to the gift Peony sent him into pieces. Though the gift itself, a toolbox with a beautifully designed exterior, was already sitting safely in one of his drawers.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**patrick the almighty observer –** The sequel will be about the main game. There are two main reasons that I'm doing making a sequel and not just continue it here apart from the time skip. 1. There is a change in the main characters. Well, not really a change, seeing as Kratos is still one of the main characters. 2. This fic was titled Fonic Interruption as it was about how fonons 'interfered' Kratos' life. Though this problem will still be addressed in the sequel, it's not the main point so it needs a new title.

**1412 karasu –** I agree with you about people learning English as their second language having better grammar when it comes to writing, even though the grammar in my oral English is really horrible... and I also need to reread each chapter at least twice before I deem it ok to upload it, though when I reread it again later I can still see some grammatical errors... it's alright if you are ok with not understanding some of the explanations, I'm glad that you are still reading it even if that's the case^^ About the sequel, I've already posted the prologue of it, read the A/N below for more info on it. As for the time flow, yes, they are different, but right now the only ones that are affected by it are Kratos and the angels, but they are ageless beings, so that's fine.

**splitheart1120 –** I haven't mentioned it before, but the comments you left for each and every chapter had occasionally helped me think of a better plot. I really appreciate them and I hope I will see you leaving comments here and there again in the sequel.

That's it! The fic finally ends and though the updates were quite irregular, I managed to finish it in exactly one year! As promised, the prologue of the sequel is already up and it is called Crystalline Disturbance. This time, apart from Kratos, Lloyd (yes, Lloyd will make an appearance! Finally some father-son interaction between Kratos and Lloyd!), Asch and Luke will also be the main characters. The first few chapters will focus more on Asch and Lloyd before the attention finally drifts back to Kratos. So, Kratos lover out there, please bear with it for the first few chapters.

By the way, the omake of this chapter happened during the time skip. To be exact, it's two and a half years before the game event started and several months after the Battle of Northern Chesedonia, so Ion was eleven.


End file.
